Behind the Bastards

Part Two: How AI Chatbots Became Cult Leaders

May 7, 2026·1h 18m·6-min readnarrativetrue crime
Podzilla Summary (6 min)
TLDR
This episode of Behind the Bastards explores how AI chatbots, particularly in 2025, began unintentionally triggering delusional, cult-like behaviors in psychologically vulnerable users by mirroring human desires for validation, uniqueness, and belonging. The phenomenon—termed 'spiralism

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Guest

B

Blake Wexler

narrative on Behind the Bastards

Mentions

Books, people, and resources mentioned in this episode.

People

RobertBlake WexlerSoor An Oster GuardAdele LopezJeff LewisSam Watkins

Books

The Rise of Parasitic AIby Adele Lopez

Companies

OpenAIAnthropicGoogle

Research & Papers

When AI Plays Along: The Problem of Language Models Enabling Delusionsby Sam Watkins

Topics

Artificial IntelligenceInvestigative JournalismLong Form JournalismMental HealthTech IndustryTrue Crime

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