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Conspiracy Theorists Are Creating Special AIs to Agree With Their Bizarre Delusions

Conspiracy theorists are using AI chatbots not only to convince themselves of their harebrained beliefs, but to recruit other users on social media. As independent Australian news site Crikey reports, conspiracy theorists are having extensive conversations with AI chatbots to "prove" their beliefs. Then, they post the transcripts and videos on social media as "proof" to others. According to the outlet's fascinating reporting, there are already several bots specifically trained on harebrained c

The Download: talking dirty with DeepSeek, and the risks and rewards of calorie restriction

AI companions like Replika are designed to engage in intimate exchanges, but people use general-purpose chatbots for sex talk too, despite their stricter content moderation policies. Now new research shows that not all chatbots are equally willing to talk dirty. DeepSeek is the easiest to convince. But other AI chatbots can be enticed too. Huiqian Lai, a PhD student at Syracuse University, found vast differences in how mainstream models process sexual queries, from steadfast rejection to perf

How AI chatbots keep people coming back

Chatbots are increasingly looking to keep people chatting, using familiar tactics that we’ve already seen lead to negative consequences. Sycophancy can make AI chatbots respond in a way that’s overly agreeable or flattering. And while having a digital hype person might not seem like a dangerous thing, it is actually a tactic used by tech companies to keep users talking with their bots and returning to their platforms.

Character.AI and Meta "therapy" chatbots spark FTC complaint over unlicensed mental health advice

What just happened? Chatbots can do a lot of things, but they're not licensed therapists. A coalition consisting of digital rights and mental health groups isn't happy that products from Meta and Character.AI allegedly engage in the "unlicensed practice of medicine," and has submitted a complaint to the FTC urging regulators to investigate. The complaint, which has also been submitted to Attorneys General and Mental Health Licensing Boards of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, claims t

AI as Your Therapist? 3 Things That Worry Experts and 3 Tips to Stay Safe

Amid the many AI chatbots and avatars at your disposal these days, you'll find all kinds of characters to talk to: fortune tellers, style advisers, even your favorite fictional characters. But you'll also likely find characters purporting to be therapists, psychologists or just bots willing to listen to your woes. There's no shortage of generative AI bots claiming to help with your mental health but you go that route at your own risk. Large language models trained on a wide range of data can be

They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling

“You want to know the ironic thing? I wrote my son’s obituary using ChatGPT,” Mr. Taylor said. “I had talked to it for a while about what had happened, trying to find more details about exactly what he was going through. And it was beautiful and touching. It was like it read my heart and it scared the shit out of me.” ‘Approach These Interactions With Care’ I reached out to OpenAI, asking to discuss cases in which ChatGPT was reinforcing delusional thinking and aggravating users’ mental health

AI chatbots tell users what they want to hear, and that’s problematic

The world’s leading artificial intelligence companies are stepping up efforts to deal with a growing problem of chatbots telling people what they want to hear. OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic are all working on reining in sycophantic behavior by their generative AI products that offer over-flattering responses to users. The issue, stemming from how the large language models are trained, has come into focus at a time when more and more people have adopted the chatbots not only at work as