When The Observer’s Technology Editor, Patricia Clarke began investigating a new phenomenon initially dubbed ‘AI psychosis’, she found lives upended by long, intimate conversations with chatbots. But as she followed the evidence from a psychiatric ward in Bristol to the safety teams in Silicon Valley, a far darker story emerged. Guided by AI industry whistleblowers, grieving families and hundreds of pages of chatbot transcripts, Spiral exposes how big tech is running an unprecedented experiment on the human mind.
This is episode one of Spiral, a six-part series from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer, produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Network.
Reported by Patricia Clarke
Produced by Katie Gunning
Sound design by Hannah Varrall
Development production by Jess Swinburne and Owen Thomas
Artwork by Jon Hill and Michelle Thompson
Narrative editor is Gary Marshall
Executive producers are Jasper Corbett and Basia Cummings
Spiral is a 4 part original series from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer.
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