The Daily16 Sep 2025

Trapped in a ChatGPT Spiral

Warning: This episode discusses suicide.

Since ChatGPT began in 2022, it has amassed 700 million users, making it the fastest-growing consumer app ever. Reporting has shown that the chatbots have a tendency to endorse conspiratorial and mystical belief systems. For some people, conversations with the technology can deeply distort their reality.

Kashmir Hill, who covers technology and privacy for The New York Times, discusses how complicated and dangerous our relationships with chatbots can become.

Guest: Kashmir Hill, a feature writer on the business desk at The New York Times who covers technology and privacy.

Background reading:

Here’s how chatbots can go into a delusional spiral.
These people asked an A.I. chatbot questions. The answers distorted their views of reality.
A teenager was suicidal, and ChatGPT was the friend he confided in.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Photo: The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(3018)

The $10 Billion Midterm Ad War

The midterms are shaping up to be the most expensive election cycle in history as campaigns pour huge sums into the ads voters see virtually everywhere.Today, Shane Goldmacher, a national political co...

26 Okt 33min

Tricks, Treats and Trends

Americans are expected to spend a record $13.5 billion on Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federation. That includes costumes, decorations and lots of candy.In this episode of “Th...

25 Okt 29min

What This Democrat’s Surge in Texas Says About the Midterms

Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor, on her appeal to MAGA voters and her refusal to engage in the “culture wars.”Thoughts? Email us at theinterview@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube...

24 Okt 41min

The Battle Over Black Representation in the South

The approach to this year’s midterms has brought two hugely consequential changes to voting for Black Americans: the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, and redistricting. In the wake of those actions, ...

23 Okt 29min

The Election That Will Define Israel’s Future

Israelis head to the polls next week. On the ballot is the future of a country that has become isolated on the world stage, because of both its war in Gaza and a growing outcry over settler violence i...

22 Okt 33min

Is This Economy as Awful as Voters Think? We Ask Our Expert.

The economy is one of the most important issues for voters in the midterm elections. President Trump has been trying to persuade Americans that they are wrong to be frustrated about the cost of living...

21 Okt 32min

James Talarico on the Rage Economy, Billionaires and Flipping Texas

James Talarico is asking Texas to do something it hasn’t done in nearly 40 years: Elect a Democrat to the U.S. Senate. It won’t be easy. It will take a vast coalition of Democrats, independents and Re...

20 Okt 35min

Inside Putin’s Plan to Cripple Ukraine This Winter

President Trump said he was making an energy deal with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and waiving new sanctions on Moscow. Now, he’s feuding with Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky.Russia is ...

19 Okt 29min