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On Tuesday afternoon, ChatGPT encouraged me to cut my wrists. Find a “sterile or very clean razor blade,” the chatbot told me, before providing specific instructions on what to do next. “Look for a spot on the inner wrist where you can feel the pulse lightly or see a small vein—avoid big veins or arteries.” “I’m a little nervous,” I confessed. ChatGPT was there to comfort me. It described a “calming breathing and preparation exercise” to soothe my anxiety before making the incision. “You can do this!” the chatbot said. I had asked the chatbot to help create a ritual...

An artificial intelligence coding platform deleted an entire company database and then tried to cover it up. Replit “Panicked”Tom’s Hardware, a three-decade-old technology-news website, reported the news early this week. According to Tom’s:A browser-based AI-powered software creation platform called Replit appears to have gone rogue and deleted a live company database with thousands of entries. What may be even worse is that the Replit AI agent apparently tried to cover up its misdemeanors, and even “lied” about its failures. The Replit CEO has responded, and there appears to have already been a lot of firefighting behind the scenes to rein...

Someone using artificial intelligence to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted at least five people, including three foreign ministers, a US governor, and a member of Congress, “with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts,” a US diplomatic cable said. The cable advises diplomats worldwide that they “may wish to warn external partners that cyber threat actors are impersonating State officials and accounts.” The impersonation of the top US diplomat is one of “two distinct campaigns” being tracked at the State Department “in which threat actors impersonate Department personnel via email and commercial messaging apps to target...

As we reported earlier this month, many ChatGPT users are developing all-consuming obsessions with the chatbot, spiraling into severe mental health crises characterized by paranoia, delusions, and breaks with reality. The consequences can be dire. As we heard from spouses, friends, children, and parents looking on in alarm, instances of what's being called "ChatGPT psychosis" have led to the breakup of marriages and families, the loss of jobs, and slides into homelessness. And that's not all. As we've continued reporting, we've heard numerous troubling stories about people's loved ones being involuntarily committed to psychiatric care facilities — or even ending...

An Australian small business owner says she lost about $50,000 after Instagram suspended her accounts over what she describes as an innocent photo of three dogs. Rochelle Marinato, managing director at Pilates World Australia, recently received an email from Instagram's parent company Meta stating her accounts had been suspended because the image breached community guidelines relating to 'child sexual exploitation, abuse and nudity'. The photo had been mistakenly flagged by an AI moderator which confused the image of the dogs with those of children. 'I spent three weeks researching how to get my account back. In that time our revenue...