--- title: "ChatGPT Appears to Have Lost Its Mind Last Night" description: "Screenshots show OpenAI's ChatGPT spouting gibberish and, in one case, even suggesting that it's in the room with users." date: "2024-02-21" modified: "2024-02-21" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/chatgpt-lost-mind" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "ai" - "ai chatbots" - "chatgpt" - "OpenAI" --- # ChatGPT Appears to Have Lost Its Mind Last Night ![Screenshots show OpenAI's ChatGPT spouting gibberish and, in one case, even suggesting that it's in the room with users.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Uh oh. As [*The Independent* reports](), ChatGPT users have spent the last 24 hours or so flocking to social media to share screenshots and anecdotes of bizarre interactions with the OpenAI chatbot — which, well, appears to be losing its mind. Screenshots show the AI's responses to seemingly normal queries devolving into total gibberish, or simply generating way too much content. In one case highlighted by the *Independent*, a Redditor shared that the AI — when asked a question about coding, mind you — provided a garrulous and mostly illogical answer that included the statement: "let's keep the line as if AI in the room." "Reading this at 2 am is scary," the user wrote of the spooky incident. That wasn't the only wild interaction shared by ChatGPT users. In one instance, for example, a Redditor posted that they'd asked the AI what the "Bill Evans Trio it would recommend on vinyl." Pretty standard ask! Its answer, though, completely breaks down, and after churning out what mostly looks like nonsense, it starts repeating the phrase "happy listening!" — complete with a musical note emoji — over and over again. https://twitter.com/seanw_m/status/1760115118690509168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1760115118690509168%7Ctwgr%5E6eab40ef9db3ffa3b6bef84c2bbaab65023e8c2f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailydot.com%2Fdebug%2Fopen-ai-chatgpt-gibberish-rogue%2F In another example, per the *Independent*, a prompt asking how to make sundried tomatoes led to the AI telling the user to "utilize as beloved" and "forsake the new fruition morsel in your beloved cookery." Sure, sounds tasty! Elsewhere, when another user asked the bot to explain what a computer was, they got *way* more than they bargained for. "Anyone else experiencing VERY strange behavior from GPT4 today?" the netizen [asked other Redditors]() on the r/ChatGPT subreddit, explaining that GPT-4 was suddenly "\[going\] on and on and ON with progressively stranger and nonsensical phrases." This user also shared an excerpt of the AI's philosophical computer musing, which was certainly something: *"It does this as the good work of a web of art for the country, a mouse of science, an easy draw of a sad few, and finally, the global house of art, just in one job in the total rest. The development of such an entire real than land of time is the depth of the computer as a complex character. The education of these designed 'important to them' computer talents is a great, average, or one-room spot for the word of a single part. The elite of its machine or talk is the book of life, and the shared essence of the self of a family is the white coat of the dove. Stand the computer as the most important culture of success, and it is just an understatement."* Many of the users with complaints appear to be GPT-4 users, meaning they cough up $20 per month for access to OpenAI's most advanced large language model. OpenAI has acknowledged the issue, noting on a [status page]() that the issue has been identified and it is continuing to monitor the situation. What the problem actually is, though, remains unclear. **More on OpenAI:** [*OpenAI Hiring Detective to Find Who's Leaking Its Precious Info*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()