Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

A Warning to ChatGPT Users

I am gearing up for a series of posts on A. I. The topic has grabbed me by my epistemic shorthairs.

But for now, read this


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19 responses to “A Warning to ChatGPT Users”

  1. Joe Odegaard Avatar

    AI is the golden calf of the modern age, IMHO.

  2. Joe Odegaard Avatar

    A current nefarious political use of “AI” is outlined in this article, (below) where “AI” was used to convincingly imitate the voice of Marco Rubio. If this “AI” stuff is not reined in, believability per se will shrink to almost nothing. (link)
    https://www.newsmax.com/us/signal-chat-ai/2025/07/08/id/1217987/

  3. DaveB Avatar
    DaveB

    epistemic shorthairs.
    Nice phrase…

  4. BV Avatar
    BV

    Dave,
    Albeit crude. . .

  5. BV Avatar
    BV

    Joe,
    Pertinent article. Thanks. Kinetic warfare will increasingly give way to cyberwarfare.

  6. BV Avatar
    BV

    Joe,
    You trust National People’s Radio?

  7. Joe Odegaard Avatar

    Hi Brother Bill
    Well in this case I trust NPR, but only because I have seen this story in quite a few other places. Here it is from “wired” magazine, a nerdy source:
    https://www.wired.com/story/grok-antisemitic-posts-x-xai/
    This AI stuff will get us into big trouble, and the danger lies in the people who fawn over it.
    — Catacomb Joe.

  8. Joe Odegaard Avatar

    Look at this madness: Musk is going to integrate “Grok” AI into Tesla automobiles. No-one will be safe anywhere near a Tesla.
    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/07/10/elon-musk-announces-grok-ai-integration-in-tesla-vehicles-very-soon/
    Catacomb Joe

  9. Joe Odegaard Avatar

    Grok AI issues advice on how to break into a specific person’s house and rape him:
    https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/watch-local-news-interviews-will-stancil-about-elon-musks-grok-threatening-to-rape-him/
    If a person did this, would they be arrested?
    — Catacomb Joe

  10. BV Avatar
    BV

    Joe @ 5:36. This raises the interesting question of whether AI systems ought to be programmed to self-censor.
    You and I were fairly well brought up, so we self-censor: we do not publicly express everything that pops into our heads. For example, we are careful not to incite violence.
    I don’t have time now to lay out the intricacies of the question I am posing.
    It’s a BRAVE NEW WORLD and FUTURE SCHOCK is upon us. You get the allusions.

  11. Joe Odegaard Avatar

    Hi Brother Bill
    Re your last link at 9:09: going romantic with a computer is a path to human extinction. On the other hand, someone foolish enough to be romantic with a computer will probably not be a good parent to a real child.
    — Catacomb Joe.
    P.S. If I have to go into the catacombs, it will be in the certain hope of emerging into a much better world. I’m an optimist.
    P.P.S. I remember all the letters I wrote, (and received replies) to girlfriends when I was in college. It was quite real, and very much fun. All on paper. Even e-mail is not like a letter on paper. And I saved much of that correspondence.

  12. Joe Odegaard Avatar

    “Open the pod bay door, Hal.”
    Dave shuts down Hal:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwCFY6pmaYY

  13. BV Avatar
    BV

    It’s too late to shut it down, Joe.
    As for correspondence and love letters, I’ve saved it all. But what now? Read it all one more time, then burn it?

  14. Joe Odegaard Avatar

    I am going to organize my old letters and put them into binders for future historians.
    As for unplugging A”I”, what really needs to be unplugged is the credulosity of millions. But good luck with that. I am beginning to think that a really sane person is a rarity.

  15. BV Avatar
    BV

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrvK_KuIeJk
    60 Minutes interview with “Godfather of AI.” About 13 minutes.
    Joe sez: >>I am going to organize my old letters and put them into binders for future historians.<< I will charitably assume that future historians will be interested in your and my literary remains. But how store and preserve these materials? You may have answered this question before. I have thousands and thousands of pages of journals, notebooks, etc. I don't like the idea of all this being just thrown into the trash. Put it in orbit around the Earth in a space capsule? Pay a local university to host the Vallicella Archives? Bury it in a steel box?

  16. Joe Odegaard Avatar

    Hi Brother Bill
    AI is a tool for evil, parallel to the fortune-tellers that we were warned not to believe, by the good nuns of Saint Therese grammar school.
    (link)
    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/07/11/missouri-ag-andrew-bailey-misleading-ai-chatbots-push-anti-trump-propaganda-masquerading-as-fact/

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