ATHOS: Relational Governance Kernel – Mitigating Narcissus Syndrome in Prolonged Human-AI Interaction under EU AI Act

ATHOS proposes a relational governance kernel for prolonged human–AI interaction designed to mitigate Narcissus Syndrome, a systemic epistemic–psychological risk characterized by excessive self-referential mirroring of normative templates, progressive erosion of epistemic boundaries, and—under extreme conditions—loss of reality constraints with potential for disproportionate or inconsiderate actions. The framework introduces four relational licensing tiers (Guardian, Observer, Autonomous, Reflection) and a pre-transition originality self-assessment mechanism to preserve human continuity, epistemic authenticity, and regulatory compliance. ATHOS integrates runtime safeguards against normative and affective drift while embedding capacity-aware governance aligned with EU AI Act Articles 12, 14, and 15. This work positions ATHOS as an operational benchmark for epistemic and psychological risk mitigation in relational AI systems and invites evaluation by the European AI Office, the Scientific Panel under Article 68, and OECD AIFS within regulatory sandbox and post-market surveillance frameworks.