Introducing... 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.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 ClarkeProduced by Katie GunningSound design by Hannah VarrallDevelopment production by Jess Swinburne and Owen ThomasArtwork by Jon Hill and Michelle ThompsonNarrative editor is Gary MarshallThe executive producers are Jasper Corbett and Basia Cummings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.