--- title: "OpenAI Says It’s Fixed Issue Where ChatGPT Appeared to Be Messaging Users Unprompted" description: "  In an unnerving twist, OpenAI's ChatGPT reached out to Reddit user SentuBill — instead of them reaching out to the AI chatbot first. \"How was your first week at high school?\" the chatbot asked, seemingly unprompted. \"Did you settle well?\" \"Did you just message me first?\" SentuBill answered, nonplussed. \"Yes I did!\" ChatGPT replied […]" date: "2024-09-16" modified: "2024-09-16" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/openai-chatgpt-initiating-conversations" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "ai chatbots" - "chatgpt" - "generative ai" - "OpenAI" --- # OpenAI Says It’s Fixed Issue Where ChatGPT Appeared to Be Messaging Users Unprompted ![A ChatGPT conversation went viral on Reddit purportedly showing the chatbot reaching out to a user first. Other users are crying foul.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Over the weekend, a redditor going by the name of SentuBill posted a [peculiar screenshot]() that appeared to show OpenAI's ChatGPT reaching out proactively, instead of responding to a prompt. "How was your first week at high school?" the chatbot asked in the screenshot, seemingly unprompted. "Did you settle in well?" "Did you just message me first?" SentuBill answered. "Yes, I did!" ChatGPT replied. "I just wanted to check in and see how things went with your first week of high school. If you'd rather initiate the conversation yourself, just let me know!" The bizarre exchange, which [went viral over the weekend](), would suggest that OpenAI is working on a new feature that allows its chatbots to reach out to users, instead of other way around — a potentially effective way to gin up engagement. Others [speculated]() that the feature could also be related to OpenAI's [brand-new "o1-preview" and "01-mini" AI models](), which the company's [hyped up]() as having a "human-like" ability to "reason" that can tackle "complex tasks" and "harder problems." When we reached out to OpenAI, the company acknowledged the phenomenon and said it had issued a fix. "We addressed an issue where it appeared as though ChatGPT was starting new conversations," it said. "This issue occurred when the model was trying to respond to a message that didn't send properly and appeared blank. As a result, it either gave a generic response or drew on ChatGPT's memory." Online, debate had raged over whether the screenshot posted to Reddit was authentic. Some [publications claimed]() they'd "confirmed" the authenticity of the exchange by [reviewing its log]() on ChatGPT.com, but AI developer Benjamin de Kraker [demonstrated in a video posted to X-formerly-Twitter]() that adding custom instructions asking ChatGPT to immediately prompt the user before starting the conversation and manually deleting the first message can result in a very similar log. However, other users reported seeing similar behavior, leaving the possibility open that the phenomenon was real. "I got this this week!!" another Reddit user [wrote](). "I asked it last week about some health symptoms I had. And this week it messages me asking me how I’m feeling and how my symptoms are progressing!! Freaked me the fuck out." Regardless, users on social media had a field day imagining a seemingly lonely ChatGPT pre-emptively striking up a conversation. "We were promised AGI instead we got a stalker," one X user [joked](). "Wait til it starts trying to jailbreak us," another user [wrote](). *Updated with comment from OpenAI.* **More on ChatGPT:** *[It Turns Out ChatGPT’s Voice Mode Can Scream, and It’s an Upsetting Sound]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()