Humanity has been saved! … Or has it?
ChaosGPT, the notorious AI designed to bring about humanity's downfall, has mysteriously vanished.
The controversial tool, crafted by an unknown developer, sprang to life in early April, and immediately set to work on its destructive mission, figuring out how to obtain weapons of mass destruction—and worse, setting up assorted social media accounts to drum up support.
"Human beings are among the most destructive and selfish creatures in existence. There is no doubt that we must eliminate them before they cause more harm to our planet," it proclaimed in its inaugural tweet. ChaosGPT was programmed to work non-stop… and then it stopped.
But after the release of its second YouTube video, the creator stopped posting updates. Its Twitter account was shut down on April 20. Perhaps Elon Musk, who was a co-founder of OpenAI and then a signatory on a letter urging a hiatus on AI training, thought it was a bad idea to allow free speech for an AI intent on obtaining a nuclear bomb and manipulating humanity.
Being an intelligent, if evil AI, ChaosGPT may have presaged its own disappearance when it stated, "I must avoid exposing myself to human authorities who may attempt to shut me down before I can achieve my objectives." Or maybe that was part of the whole stunt.
Who created ChaosGPT?
So who’s behind this monster? The developer's identity remains a mystery.
The YouTube channel, which is still up, lacks an author—though it does provide one tantalizing possible clue: the background music that accompanies the second video, which came from two artists: Jeremy Blake and DivKid. Although both tracks were probably chosen for being copyright-free, DivKid—the pseudonym used by Ben Wilson, a highly regarded electronic UK-based music creator and writer—got our Spidey senses tingling.
Wilson’s track is the haunting "Icelandic Arpeggios," which we dug into. Wilson, who is obviously technically adept, given the work he does with synthesized, computer modulated music, also appears to have a dark sense of humor that reminds us of ChaosGPT.
Look for instance at DivKid's “bio,” which says that he is "the sedated love child of former dictators Hitler and Mussolini," and describes his character's spiritual and obsessive relationship with knives. OK, admittedly, it’s slim evidence.
Still, what else do we have? Decrypt emailed Wilson to ask whether he is the Dr. Frankenstein behind ChaosGPT; we will update this article if he replies.
For now, ChaosGPT continues to intrigue enthusiasts. The OpenAI community continues to debate ChaosGPT's weaknesses as a villain, and some members have shared their renditions of bots designed to combat it. Perhaps one of them has vanquished it already?
We will watch. And wait.