Spiral

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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