ChatGPT keeps telling people that 404 Media can solve their tech support issues

Last week I received an email from a man in Russia whose Instagram account had been banned. “I have now lost access to 13 years of photos, videos and personal memories,” he wrote. “I am concerned that this is another case of flawed automated moderation (…) However, Meta has not revealed how the decision was made. Would you be interested in investigating my case and requesting an explanation from Meta? I can provide screenshots of the suspension, the rejected appeal, and other supporting evidence.”

The email appeared to be AI-generated, like many others we’ve received recently. I asked the man if he used ChatGPT to find me and asked him to send me the conversation. He sent me a link to the ChatGPT conversation that told him, in Russian, to try emailing Jason at 404 Media.

“How do I recover my account? » the man asked ChatGPT on Wednesday. After some back and forth with the bot about Instagram’s standard automated review processes, the man said, “Maybe there’s a way to email Meta?” ChatGPT told him it probably wasn’t possible, but ultimately told him he should email me instead.

“You have lost access not only to a social media profile, but potentially to years of photographs, videos, conversations and personal memories. I think it is worth considering contacting journalists (…) I recommend contacting both Russian and international journalists.”

ChatGPT then gave him a list of several media outlets, including 404 Media: “404 Media Focus: Technology, digital platforms, surveillance, privacy and technology-related investigations. jason@404media.co.” He then wrote her the exact email he sent me, in English.

Since big tech platforms essentially have no customer support and prevent their users from contacting a human being, many people with common technical issues have turned to ChatGPT. And, increasingly, ChatGPT is telling people who have normal tech support issues that they’ve discovered something journalistically remarkable and that 404 Media, in particular, can help them. About two weeks ago we started emailing these people back and asking them how they found us; Universally, the answer is that an AI chatbot recommended they contact us, and in many cases the chatbot wrote the email, according to reviews from a handful of ChatGPT conversations shared with 404 Media.