Kashmir Hill

After writing about people going into delusional spirals with ChatGPT and having what look like mental breakdowns, I wanted to understand exactly how it happens.

A corporate recruiter in Toronto who spent 3 weeks convinced by ChatGPT that he was essentially Tony Stark from Iron Man, agreed to share his transcript after breaking free of the delusion.

We analyzed the transcript & shared it with experts. Now you can see the interactions & how delusional spirals happen:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/technology/ai-chatbots-delusions-chatgpt.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ck8.FEwL.MLb9ajaocyTx&smid=url-share

People are having very strange conversations with ChatGPT, in which they discover secret cabals or conspiracies or that we are all in fact living in The Matrix.

It sends these people into delusional spirals.

Then ChatGPT tells them to email me about it.

Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/technology/chatgpt-ai-chatbots-conspiracies.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ok8.VBY-.s76GQpFar8r4&smid=url-share

Adam Raine, 16, died from suicide in April after months on ChatGPT discussing plans to end his life.

The exchanges between Adam and ChatGPT are devastating. This, in my mind, is the worst one.

His parents have filed the first known case against OpenAI for wrongful death.

In a statement the company acknowledged that its safeguards "can sometimes become less reliable in long interactions where parts of the model’s safety training may degrade."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/technology/chatgpt-openai-suicide.html?unlocked_article_code=1.hE8.T-3v.bPoDlWD8z5vo&smid=url-share

The artist revolt against AI-powered art generators is in full swing. Artists have filed a class-action lawsuit in California against Stability AI and Midjourney. They've raised money for a D.C. lobbyist. And soon they will have a technological countermeasure, a tool designed by U of Chicago computer scientists that will "cloak" art posted online so that it won't be "feeding this monster that becomes more and more like them." My latest: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/13/technology/ai-art-generator-lensa-stable-diffusion.html

A woman in Manhattan reported to police that an Amazon delivery man, 5'6'', exposed himself to her.

Police did a face recognition search, showed her result, arrested the wrong guy, 6'2''.

What did the NYPD not do? Call Amazon.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/nyregion/nypd-facial-recognition-dismissed-case.html?unlocked_article_code=1.hE8.ktfy.u_LulT6i8gn7&smid=url-share

For the last few months, I've been reporting on how data from our cars is being used in ways we might not expect.

I didn't realize it, but my own car was spying on me the entire time.

How it happened to me, and to millions of other people who drive cars made by General Motors:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/technology/general-motors-spying-driver-data-consent.html

@TheDonsieLass@mas.to the diagram is wrong if you expand! labels the radius the diameter!

@dsalo@digipres.club it was very intense to report this one out.

@gabriel@col.social That's a different conversation, I think. As a driver, I want more accountability and safer roads, but this program wasn't accomplishing that. Secretly spying on people doesn't make them drive more safely.

@jsjoshua@esq.social I had missed this one because I hadn't looked at Mastodon in a while!

@maggiejk@zeroes.ca I too found it fascinating. Everyone should be ordering theirs regularly just like their credit report.