If you’re looking for some real talk, there’s probably no reason to ask ChatGPT. Thanks to the web-scraping-for-good powers of the Internet Archive, The Washington Post got hold of 47,000 conversations with the chatbot and analyzed the back-and-forths with users. Among its findings are evidence that OpenAI’s flagship chatbot still has major sycophancy problems, telling […]
The Cult of the Chatbot Is Rising
AI companies have made a big to-do about their chatbots providing a personalized experience for users, conversations based on their unique preferences and idiosyncrasies. So why do people keep experiencing the same type of symbols and language as they dive into the depths of AI-induced delusions? According to a report from Rolling Stone, a software […]
What’s Cooler Than Building a Literal God? Building the New Uber
An interesting shift seems to be happening in the language of OpenAI’s biggest hype people. The term “artificial general intelligence” and the idea of the do-it-all AI seem to have fallen out of favor a bit. In its place: personalized AI experiences and researchers. Perhaps the clearest example of this change can be seen in […]
xAI Employees Were Reportedly Compelled to Give Biometric Data to Train Anime Girlfriend
If someone created a character in your likeness, you might feel flattered. If they happened to be your boss and mandated you hand over your mannerisms and voice so they could use a facsimile of your unique traits to create an AI girlfriend for lonely Elon Musk fanboys, you might feel like you picked the […]
After Suicides, Lawsuits, and a Jeffrey Epstein Chatbot, Character.AI Is Banning Kids
Character.AI released its mobile app in early 2023, promising users the opportunity to create their own customizable genAI chatbots. Character’s founders clearly thought individualized bot interactions would be a winning business formula, but, for the most part, it has caused the startup nothing but grief. In addition to fielding controversy over the kinds of racy characters […]
Microsoft Risks the Ire of the Anti-Woke, Won’t Build a Jerk-Off Machine
A line in the sand has been drawn in the AI race: the porn-brained and the porn-banned. Microsoft has sorted itself into the latter category. According to a report from CNBC, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman told an audience at the Paley International Council Summit that the company would not allows its LLM-powered tools to […]
Sam Altman: Lord Forgive Me, It’s Time to Go Back to the Old ChatGPT
Earlier this year, OpenAI scaled back some of ChatGPT’s “personality” as part of a broader effort to improve user safety following the death of a teenager who took his own life after discussing it with the chatbot. But apparently, that’s all in the past. Sam Altman announced on Twitter that the company is going back […]
Is Everyone Really Dating AI Chatbots?
Of the ways that artificial intelligence firms have attempted to get people to engage with their products, perhaps the grossest is by preying upon loneliness. When Friend, a wearable AI pendant marketed as a portable “companion,” plastered its advertisements across New York City’s subway, they were (rightly) defaced. And yet, a new survey suggests that […]
Bank Fires Workers in Favor of AI Chatbot, Rehires Them After Chatbot Is Terrible at the Job
Companies all over the world are currently racing to shrink their workforces and replace them with AI. Often, it seems, this isn’t working out for the firms involved. Case in point: A bank in Australia recently did so, but then had to ask its workers to come back after it turned out that the chatbot […]
Her 6-Year-Old Son Told Her He Wanted to Die. So She Built an AI Company to Save Him
The burgeoning world of AI-powered mental health support is a minefield. From chatbots giving dangerously incorrect medical advice to AI companions encouraging self-harm, the headlines are filled with cautionary tales. High-profile apps like Character.AI and Replika have faced backlash for harmful and inappropriate responses, and academic studies have raised alarms. Two recent studies from Stanford […]