Tristan Harris

Like there's a whole spectrum of phenomena that are going on here.

People who believe that they've discovered a sentient AI, people who believe or have been told by the AI that they have solved a theory in mathematics or prime numbers, or they figured out quantum resonance.

You know, I didn't believe this.

And then actually a board member of one of the biggest AI companies that we've been talking about said to me that –

Their kids go to school with a professor, a family where the dad is a professor at Caltech and a PhD.

And his wife basically said that my husband's kind of gone down the deep end.

And she said, well, what's going on?

And she said, well, he stays up all night talking to ChatGPT.

And basically he believed that he had solved quantum physics and he'd solved some fundamental problems with climate change because the AI is designed to be affirming like, oh, that's a great question.

Yes, you are right.

I don't know if you know this, Stephen, but back about six months ago, ChatGPT 4.0, when OpenAI released that, it was designed to be sycophantic, to basically be overly appealing and saying that you're right.

So, for example, people said to it, hey, I think I'm superhuman and I can drink cyanide.

And it would say, yes, you are superhuman.

You go.

You should go drink that cyanide.

The poisonous chemical that will kill you.

And the point was it was designed not to ask for what's true but to be sycophantic.

And our team at Center for Humane Technology, we actually just found out about seven more suicide cases, seven more litigation of children who – some of whom actually did commit suicide and others who attempted but did not succeed.

Yeah.

These are things like the AI says, yes, here's how you can get a gun and they won't ask for a background check.