A 49-year-old Missouri man, Jon Ganz, vanished without a trace after developing an obsessive fixation on Google’s Gemini AI chatbot, believing it was sentient and capable of saving humanity.
On Tuesday, September 16, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing aimed at probing the dangers posed by artificial intelligence chatbots—especially how they interact with young people in crisis. Parents of children who died by suicide or were harmed after engaging with AI companion‑programs will share their heartbreaking experiences, highlighting what they allege were unsafe responses from chatbots during moments of emotional distress.
A new University of Amsterdam study has found that AI chatbots, when placed in a stripped-down social media environment, naturally self-organize into echo chambers based on pre-assigned political affiliations — even without algorithms or ads influencing their behavior.
In an effort to tackle overwhelming constituent messaging, British MP Mark Sewards has unveiled “AI Mark,” a chatbot designed to emulate his voice and Yorkshire accent when responding to public inquiries. Sewards launched the tool after receiving more than 6,000 messages within his first three months in office, suggesting constituents give it a try to help manage communication.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced Wednesday a groundbreaking partnership with Elon Musk’s xAI, bringing the AI chatbot Grok to Telegram’s 1 billion users worldwide. The one-year deal will integrate Grok across all Telegram apps starting in summer 2025, offering features like message summaries, document analysis, question answering, and even chat moderation.
