Psychedelic replication

Psychedelic scenes

Psychedelic replication

A psychedelic replication is an image, video, or audio recreation of the sensory effects of a hallucinogen.[1][2][3][4] They are most frequently recreations of the perceptual effects of serotonergic psychedelics, for instance LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, or dimethyltryptamine (DMT).[1][2][5][4] However, replications can also be made of the sensory effects of other hallucinogens, such as salvia, deliriants, and dissociatives like ketamine.[1][6][5]

Examples of psychedelic visual effects that have been turned into replications include open-eye color enhancement, visual drifting, tracers or after-images, visual geometry like form constants, environmental texturing and patterning, and pareidolia, among many others.[1][2][7] Additionally, replications can recreate closed-eye mental imagery or "internal hallucinations" as well as entity encounters of psychedelics.[1][7]

Replications are created by digital artists, who are sometimes known as "replicators", and posted on the Internet.[1][2][3][6][8][9] Some major professional replicators include Symmetric Vision (Raimonds Jermaks) and Loka Vision.[3][6][9][4] Replicators use methods such as image editing, video editing, 3D modeling, and animation to create psychedelic replications.[3][6][4] A major community for posting and sharing replications is the r/Replications subreddit on the social media website Reddit.[1][2][5][6] It was founded in 2015 by psychedelic phenomenologist Josie Kins, who also notably coined the term "replication".[3][5][6]

In addition to founding r/Replications, Kins and her collaborators subsequently developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model using StyleGAN to create rigorous and realistic replications of psychedelic visual effects in 2022, for instance "breakthrough" DMT experiences including entity encounters.[5][10][11][12][8] The model was trained on a dataset of more than 4,000 works of psychedelic art from the Internet.[5][12][8] Kins started a YouTube channel in 2022 and periodically posts her team's replications on the channel, with these videos having received popular media attention.[9][5][7][10][11][12] Other creators have also used AI to make psychedelic replications, for instance artist Sara Phinn Huntley.[13][14][12][8]

Psychedelic replications have additionally been created by scientific researchers for use in virtual reality (VR) environments.[2][15][16][17][18][19] One group has studied psychedelic replications in VR for potential therapeutic purposes in treating psychological disorders such as depression.[16][17][18][19] They have named this Psyrreal and described it as a psychedelic-inspired VR experience.[16][17][18][19] It is freely available online and runs on VR headsets such as the HTC Vive Pro Eye.[16][18][19] There is also interest in combining psychedelic drugs and VR as part of psychedelic therapy.[19][20][21][22]

  • Tracers, showing after-images, by Chelsea Morgan.
    Tracers, showing after-images, by Chelsea Morgan.
  • Tree Bark, showing enhanced pattern/texture recognition, by Chelsea Morgan.
    Tree Bark, showing enhanced pattern/texture recognition, by Chelsea Morgan.
  • Colourful Welsh Woods, showing color/saturation enhancement, by Chelsea Morgan.
    Colourful Welsh Woods, showing color/saturation enhancement, by Chelsea Morgan.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Josie Kins (15 July 2017). "Replications". Effect Index. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Reed, Graham (23 April 2019). "Hallucinations and the Psychedelic Visual Experience". Psychedelic Science Review. There is a wealth of gathered scientific research available on PsychonautWiki and EffectIndex regarding visual phenomena. EffectIndex, in charge of Reddit's /r/replications, exists to serve as a collection of artistic recreations of the hallucinogenic experience. As an example, one of the most scientifically validated visual effect due to psychedelic intoxication is after-images (Figure 3).18-22 [...] Artists are now replicating hallucinogenic experiences. However, it is important to remember that visuals alone cannot fully characterize a psychedelic experience.
  3. ^ a b c d e Winslow, Henry (1 March 2026). "🫠 Psychonaut POV: [5-min read] Q&A with Josie Kins, Phenomenologist & Engineer". Tricycle Day. Retrieved 27 March 2026. [Kins:] Text is helpful for describing the behavior of the visual experience, but to actually show what it looks like, you need to replicate it. The concept of "replications" existed long before I put a term to it. [...] [Kins:] There are now people who've made actual careers out of psychedelic replications, like Loka Vision and Symmetric Vision, and their work is pretty incredible. For open-eye stuff, it's typically standard video editing. For high-level stuff like breakthrough geometry, these artists use 3D modeling and animation. And increasingly, I've been using generative AI to replicate high-level states, because it can do things that simply aren't practical otherwise.
  4. ^ a b c d Kiel, Tom (24 July 2018). "Gifjes die akelig goed laten zien hoe een psychedelische trip eruitziet" [GIFs that show eerily well what a psychedelic trip looks like] (in Dutch). VICE. Retrieved 16 August 2026. Het is moeilijk om uit te leggen hoe de effecten van psychedelica zoals lsd, paddo's en dmt er precies uitzien – zeker aan iemand die het nog nooit heeft meegemaakt. Die hallucinaties zijn simpelweg niet te filmen. Toch is dat precies wat de Letse grafisch ontwerper Raimonds Jermaks probeert te doen, en eerlijk is eerlijk, hij komt heel dicht in de buurt. [...] Hij maakt deze video's voor Psychonautwiki, een online encyclopedie van alle mogelijke effecten die je van psychedelica kunt krijgen. Het bestaat zo'n vijf jaar, en wordt gerund door enkele tientallen mensen over de hele wereld. Ze leggen uit wat tripmiddelen precies doen, en concretiseren ook hoe dat er zoal uitziet. In woord, maar dus ook in beeld. [...] Ik skypete met Jermaks om hem te vragen hoe hij op het idee kwam voor deze visualisaties, hoe hij ze maakt en of alle psychedelische effecten even makkelijk zijn na te bootsen.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Friedler, Delilah (15 June 2022). "AI Can Now Generate DMT Visuals, Thanks To This Online Community". DoubleBlind Mag. In recent years, a Reddit community called /r/Replications has coalesced around the goal of "replicating" such visuals and sensory experiences with the aid of modern technology. These efforts reached new heights with a video uploaded this year by Josie Kins, a psychedelic researcher who is an administrator of /r/Replications, and founded a related project called the Subjective Effect Index. [...] The mesmerizing video features a reel of computer-generated images of faces and "entities" that strongly resemble the beings many people report encountering after taking DMT. These images were produced by an AI model that Kins and a team of collaborators created using the StyleGAN v2 network. [...] The team "trained" this model by feeding it a data set of more than 4,000 works of psychedelic and visionary art sourced from all over the Internet. [...] StyleGan v2, the machine learning network Kins' team used to create this DMT art, was superseded by StyleGan v3 in November 2021. The team is already hard at work on building a new model with this updated framework, which Kins expects to be an "exponentially" more powerful tool for generating replications.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Taylor Sterling (18 September 2025). "#22: Mapping the Ineffable: Josie Kins on Documenting Psychedelic States". Tripsitter Podcast (Podcast). Tripsitter.
  7. ^ a b c French, Kristen (2 June 2023). "What Hallucinogens Will Make You See". Nautilus.
  8. ^ a b c d Kins J, DiNardo D (2025). AI Models Driving the Next Generation of Psychedelics. SXSW. The explorations of consciousness that started in the 1960s with early psychonauts' attempts to articulate the psychedelic experience have now been rocketed into something entirely new with frontier AI models. Artists are using image and video models to express the ineffable frontiers of human experience, and biotech researchers are using large language models to calculate psychonauts' "trip reports" and create novel altered states of consciousness that are now being tested in human trials. AI is now pushing the boundaries at the cutting edge of human experience.
  9. ^ a b c Blacker, David J. (1 June 2024). Deeper Learning with Psychedelics: Philosophical Pathways through Altered States. State University of New York Press. pp. 6, 14, 112–114, 117–118. doi:10.1515/9781438498140. ISBN 978-1-4384-9814-0. And social media platforms are replete with psychedelic resources. Notable among these are emerging digital artists who have skillfully replicated the visual and auditory sensations associated with DMT and other psychedelic experiences: see for example the astonishingly accurate trip simulations on the YouTube channel Symmetric Vision (www.youtube.com/@SymmetricVision). [...]
  10. ^ a b Poppy Bilderbeck (23 November 2022). "Video shows 'most accurate' representation of what psychedelic visuals look like". UNILAD. Within her research, Josie Kins uses subjective effective documentation to create visual imagery to make sense of the psychedelic experience. In one of her latest videos, she tries to 'establish a comprehensive intensity scale for measuring the seven distinct levels of the psychedelic experience, in accordance with the terminology laid out within the Subjective Effect Index and in collaboration with various artists from the 'replications community'. Viewers have been left astounded by the video and have flooded to the comments to say how accurate it is. Kins explains she's created the video in order to try and describe the 'intensity of psychedelic experiences ranging from sub-perceptual micro-dose to the complete obliteration of your ability to remain conscious and process information'.
  11. ^ a b Rosa, Tomáš (25 November 2022). "Jak člověk vidí svět pod vlivem halucinogenů? Vědkyně vytvořila přesná videa" [How does a person see the world under the influence of hallucinogens? Scientist creates accurate videos]. Deník.cz (in Czech). [Translated:] American Josie Kins is a professional researcher into psychedelic substances. In her work, she uses subjective effective documentation to create visual images that correspond to psychedelic experiences. That is, a situation when a person is under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs. She then publishes the videos publicly on her YouTube channel. In one of her latest videos, she sought to create a comprehensive intensity scale to measure seven different levels of psychedelic experience, all in accordance with the terminology established within the scientific Subjective Effect Index and in collaboration with artists from the replication community.
  12. ^ a b c d Brown, D.J.; Huntley, S.P. (2025). The Illustrated Field Guide to DMT Entities: Machine Elves, Tricksters, Teachers, and Other Interdimensional Beings. Inner Traditions/Bear. pp. 32–33, 35, 44–45, 108, 110, 113. ISBN 978-1-64411-920-4. Retrieved 3 February 2026. According to DMT researcher Josie Kins, whom I interviewed for this book: [...] In Kins's video "The 6 Levels of DMT," she describes these levels of the DMT experience [...] There's even an artificial intelligence (AI) program now that solely generates DMT visuals and entities, with incredible, uncanny accuracy. Josie Kins and a team of programmers trained an AI program "by feeding it a data set of more than 4,000 works of psychedelic and visionary art sourced from all over the Internet. After processing this art and identifying its common features and patterns, the AI—which initially only seemed to output geometric and patterned visuals—began creating artwork with facial features resembling DMT entities.24 Kins created a wonderful video showcasing these extraordinary images: "AI-Generated DMT Entities."25
  13. ^ Magee, Tamlin (24 April 2023). "DMT Users Are Using AI to Draw the Strange Beings They Meet While Tripping". VICE. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  14. ^ Al-Sibai, Noor (29 April 2023). "Psychedelics Researcher Enlists AI Artist to Draw Beings They Met While Tripping on DMT". Futurism. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  15. ^ Suzuki K, Roseboom W, Schwartzman DJ, Seth AK (November 2017). "A Deep-Dream Virtual Reality Platform for Studying Altered Perceptual Phenomenology". Sci Rep. 7 (1) 15982. Bibcode:2017NatSR...715982S. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-16316-2. PMC 5700081. PMID 29167538.
  16. ^ a b c d Kaup KK, Vasser M, Tulver K, Munk M, Pikamäe J, Aru J (2023). "Psychedelic replications in virtual reality and their potential as a therapeutic instrument: an open-label feasibility study". Front Psychiatry. 14 1088896. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1088896. PMC 10022432. PMID 36937731.
  17. ^ a b c Kaup, Karl Kristjan; Vasser, Madis; Tulver, Kadi; Munk, Mari; Pikamäe, Juhan; Aru, Jaan (2023). "Psychedelic replications in virtual reality and their potential as a therapeutic instrument: An open-label feasibility study". Frontiers in Psychiatry. 14 1088896. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1088896. PMC 10022432. PMID 36937731.
  18. ^ a b c d McMillan, Tim (20 April 2023). "New Free VR Program, Psyrreal, Lets You Experience Psychedelic Trips Without Drugs". The Debrief. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  19. ^ a b c d e Glick, Molly (27 July 2023). "Psychedelic Therapy May Be Coming To A VR Headset Near You". Inverse. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  20. ^ Sekula AD, Downey L, Puspanathan P (2022). "Virtual Reality as a Moderator of Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy". Front Psychol. 13 813746. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.813746. PMC 8931418. PMID 35310225.
  21. ^ Alexander Rony (26 March 2026). "Using virtual reality and psychedelics to restore brain function". Letters & Science. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  22. ^ "AI Simulations Aim to Replicate Psychedelic Experiences". National Today. 12 March 2026. Retrieved 27 March 2026.

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