Spiral | Tortoise Investigates

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.
Spiral is 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
The executive producers are Jasper Corbett and Basia Cummings
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jim asks an AI chatbot a simple question about how to earn some extra cash. He ends up in a psychiatric ward. Patricia Clarke investigates how design choices made by AI labs can lead to human delusions.

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.
To binge listen to all episodes today, ad-free, subscribe to The Observer.
Or subscribe to Observer+ on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to listen to all our podcasts, including this one, without any ads.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

Spiral is 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
The executive producers are Jasper Corbett and Basia Cummings
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To culminate Careless, a new investigative series from The Observer, we invite you to join actor Nkechi Simms, broadcaster and Careless reporter Ashley John-Baptiste, and Observer producer Madeleine Parr for a special online event.

Together, they’ll take you behind the scenes of the investigation, explore why so many care leavers are being denied access to their own histories, and answer your burning questions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Journalist Ashley John-Baptiste joins actor Nkechi Simms as she returns to Camden to untangle the truth about her childhood and find out why she was taken into state care when she was 12.

Careless is a 4 part original series from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer.
To binge listen to all episodes today, ad-free, subscribe to The Observer.
Or subscribe to Observer+ on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to listen to all our podcasts, including this one, without any ads.

Reported by Ashley John-Baptiste and Madeleine Parr
Produced and written by Madeleine Parr
Sound design by Simon Panayi
Artwork by Jon Hill
The editor is Jasper Corbett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.