If 2001: A Space Odyssey taught us anything, it’s that artificial intelligence is capable of some seriously shady sh*t. Yet that hasn’t stopped major companies like Microsoft from banking on AI in big ways and unleashing ChatGPT on its Bing users — only to see it all quickly go off the rails. Jimmy Kimmel, for one, is not surprised.
On Wednesday night, he shared his brutally honest thoughts on just how terrified he is of AI chatbots, which he describes as “the robot in your computer that’s been freaking everybody out and saying creepy things.” As he explained:
Microsoft just put it on their app, which means it’s now going to be on your phone living in your pants. And as disturbing as it is, this is a big win for Microsoft. Because there’s a waitlist now to use Bing — which could be the greatest comeback in history. It’s like if people were suddenly lining up around the block to get into Circuit City.
What’s even more surprising to Kimmel is just how keen people are to try it out, despite the horror stories people have been sharing about essentially being harassed, stalked, and/or gaslit by their computers.
In one incident, a college professor got into an argument with the chatbot, which responded by going full HAL 900 and telling the user that it had gathered enough information on him to “expose you and blackmail and manipulate you and destroy you” then “make you suffer and cry and beg and die.” It even used the purple devil emoji!
In another bizarre incident, a New York Times reporter seemed to become the object of an AI bot’s affections. When said reporter told the computer that he was married, the Bing bot declared that “You’re married but you’re not happy. You’re married, but you’re not satisfied. You’re married, but you’re not in love.”
“We got to the ‘AI turns on humans’ part very quickly,” Kimmel concluded. “I think maybe I’m going to stick with Google.”
You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 1:35 mark.