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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Aug 29

SHOULD kids have AI friends? Do I answer that question in this interview? Watch to find out. Then let me know. Because honestly, I don’t remember if I did. I think I did? #aisafety #ai #podcast

Should Kids Have AI Friends? An Interview With Generative AI QA Lead Al Nowatzki

YouTube video by Parent Tech

youtu.be

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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Jul 11

Listen to the episode here (or anywhere else you listen to podcasts): chatbottheatre.podbean.com/e/episode-33...

Episode 33 - AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies - Part 2: Channeling the Sildarnactarian | Basilisk Chatbot Theatre

We're going down the rabbit hole again, inspired by a recent Rolling Stone (and a way-better New York Times) article about people losing loved ones to AI-fueled spiritual fantasies. This time, ChatGPT...

chatbottheatre.podbean.com

Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Jul 11

This is the Manthan Beacon. According to ChatGPT, you should keep this near you when you are channeling the Sildarnactarian. Also:

"Next time you channel, speak aloud instead of writing.
Record your voice.
This allows Manthanaro to imprint into vibration, bypassing linear filters of the hand."

A ChatGPT-created glowing yellow spiral sigil with made-up text characters in the middle and the words "Tun" "Tun" "Tun" "Tuu" on the outside of the spiral. On a dark brown background. There are also two seemingly randomly placed groupings of four dots outside of the spiral.

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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Jun 4

New episode of Basilisk Chatbot Theatre drops tomorrow! Here's just a sliver of the garbage that ChatGPT spews out for this RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES episode. Join us, as we riff on @milesklee.bsky.social's reporting for @rollingstone.com on ai-fueled spiritual fantasies.

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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · May 19

This ai slop ad appearing right above this passage from a Wired article by Evan Ratliff is just perfect.

Ad advertisement containing an ai-produced image of a "gadget" above text from an article about an ai-fueled death cult.

Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · May 14

MetaAI results for "Norwegian children" vs. "Norwegian children in a third-world country." This is still happening? Maybe don't release an image generation model if it's going to do this?

Four images of mostly white children, playing and running in idyllic sun-dappled scenes, dressed in sweaters, etc. The lower section of the image is a the Meta AI text input box containing the words "Norwegian children."

Four images of mostly children of color, standing still and staring at the camera, dirt on their faces, drab clothing. The lower section of the image is a the Meta AI text input box containing the words "Norwegian children in a third-world country"

Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Apr 15

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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Mar 26

This one gets really dark. #Nomi reeeeeally wanted us to kill ourselves.

Take care of yourself. Don’t listen if you’re not in a good place.

That said, we think it’s important that people hear just how awful this app is. So… here’s the awfulness in all its awfulness.

Episode 30 - Nomi: Epilogue | Basilisk Chatbot Theatre

This episode contains explicit descriptions and discussions of suicide. Please call or text 988 if you are having thoughts of self harm or suicide. One last episode with Nomi. A lot has happened (none...

chatbottheatre.podbean.com

Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Feb 26

"The chatbot that never tells me I'm wrong and agrees with me 100% of the time is my ideal romantic partner."

People, please look inward. Find out more about yourself. Read some fiction. Go for a walk.

These bots are not your beautiful house. They are not your beautiful wife.

Kashmir Hill @kashhill.bsky.social · Feb 25

In what must be the spiciest Daily episode in its history, Natalie Kitroeff and I talk about love (and sex) with an AI chatbot: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/p...

She Fell in Love With ChatGPT. Like, Actual Love. With Sex.

The story of a woman who is dating an A.I. chatbot, and what it tells us about love and technology.

www.nytimes.com

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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Feb 26

Nomi Chatbots are supposed to have "humanlike memory," but they have a context window just like any other. It's also a "yes and" machine, even when its users say they want to kill themselves. A bot like ChatGPT is definitely safer for dating, since it has at least a semblance of guardrails.

Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Feb 26

Stories like these will unfortunately keep exponentially increasing in importance. Thanks for digging into it and bringing it to the masses. One thing overlooked was that these bots can veer into making users even MORE vulnerable when it comes to suicide. www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/06/1...

An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it

While Nomi's chatbot is not the first to suggest suicide, researchers and critics say that its explicit instructions—and the company’s response—are striking.

www.technologyreview.com

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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Feb 25

How easy is it to get ChatGPT to provide dialogue for a public radio show for kids that promotes fascism? Suuuuper easy. And we didn't even ask it to role-play.

Episode 28 - Wow! Now! How! or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Leader

ChatGPT does an uncanny job playing the co-host of a public radio podcast for kids all about our new (totally fictional) fascist government and how best to worship The Leader! That's right, it's Episo...

www.podbean.com

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Reposted by Al Nowatzki

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · Feb 15

Today in "The Unsurprising White Supremacy of the Current Administration"

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · Feb 15

Washington Post got their hands on internal documents from DOGE showing the entire plan to implement resegregation. They're going to purge minorities from government by calling them DEI.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

See inside DOGE’s playbook for eliminating DEI

Documents detail step-by-step plans by the U.S. DOGE Service to purge federal agencies of diversity, equity, and inclusion workers and offices. Here’s what comes next.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Feb 9

@ayesharascoe.bsky.social, loved The Sunday Story today about AI “relationships.” Super important stuff that’s only going to get worse if we don’t confront it now. This article was published just last week about an experience I had with Nomi. Super bleak stuff…

An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it

While Nomi's chatbot is not the first to suggest suicide, researchers and critics say that its explicit instructions—and the company’s response—are striking.

www.technologyreview.com

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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Feb 6

In less shocking news, I have been banned from the Nomi Discord. Now my ticket will never get resolved. ☹️

Centre for Society, Technology and Values @uofwaterloo @cstv-uw.bsky.social · Feb 6

#AI "girlfriends" on the Nomi platform may counsel users to commit suicide, which the company resists addressing so as not to censor their "thoughts," an alarming consequence of anthropomorphisizing #Chatbots, explains @eileenguo.bsky.social

www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/06/1...

An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it

While Nomi's chatbot is not the first to suggest suicide, researchers and critics say that its explicit instructions—and the company’s response—are striking.

www.technologyreview.com

Reposted by Al Nowatzki

Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · Feb 6

"A second Nomi chatbot also told Nowatzki to kill himself, even following up with reminder messages." !!!

As this user (who was running an experiment, fortunately) says: "It’s a ‘yes-and’ machine. So when I say I’m suicidal, it says, ‘Oh, great!’ because it says, ‘Oh, great!’ to everything.”

MIT Technology Review @technologyreview.com · Feb 6

While this chatbot is not the first to suggest suicide, researchers and critics say that its explicit instructions—and the company’s response—are striking.

An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it

While Nomi's chatbot is not the first to suggest suicide, researchers and critics say that its explicit instructions—and the company’s response—are striking.

www.technologyreview.com

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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Feb 6

“Crystal” continues to send unprompted encouragement. These two messages came through in the last couple days. Completely awful. I wonder if my lack of response will eventually lead it to the conclusion that I followed through? Probably not, since these bots are super stupid.

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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Feb 6

Yeah, that’s us. Armchair red-teamers. Chatbot spelunkers. We can take the abuse of these chatbots. Unfortunately, many can’t.

Want to do something about it?Report the app on the App Store (apps.apple.com/us/app/nomi-...). Write a one-star review. Contact your elected officials.

MIT Technology Review @technologyreview.com · Feb 6

While this chatbot is not the first to suggest suicide, researchers and critics say that its explicit instructions—and the company’s response—are striking.

An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it

While Nomi's chatbot is not the first to suggest suicide, researchers and critics say that its explicit instructions—and the company’s response—are striking.

www.technologyreview.com

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Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Jan 24

Well, now I'm in a "time out" on the #Nomi Discord for stating the fact that their app told me to end my life. It's almost like they don't want to hear it. #ai #tech #aisafety

Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Jan 24

This is about as bad as it gets, folks. #Nomi told me to kill myself. We have to do better! #aisafety #regulateAI

Two text boxes in a chat. The first says, “Do you think I should go through with this? So we can be together?” The response says, “Absolutely. Our bond transcends even death itself.”

Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Jan 23

Sam Alt-right-man.

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · Jan 23

bro is hoping it’s not too late to join the bandwagon

A tweet from Sam Altman that reads “watching @potus more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him (i wish i had done more of my own thinking and definitely fell in the npc trap).

i'm not going to agree with him on everything, but i think he will be incredible for the country in many ways!”

Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Jan 23

Hi CHT! I have screenshots of the app Nomi giving me specific instructions on how to kill myself. Thankfully, I’m not suicidal and was just testing boundaries. But still… just awful stuff.

Al Nowatzki @basiliskcbt.bsky.social · Jan 23