The Daily Note with James A. Brown
The Daily Note with James A. Brown
James A. Brown
Goblins
58 seconds Posted May 6, 2026 at 8:35 am.
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So apparently, ChatGPT picked up a verbal tic after an update. Mentions of goblins jumped 175%.

The company traced it back to a personality option called "nerdy" that rewarded the bot for being playful.

They eventually retired the nerdy setting, but the goblins kept coming.

So they had to write code telling the bot to never bring up creatures unless somebody asked for them—which I find pretty funny.

Here's the smartest people on the planet—or so they think—telling a machine to stop talking about made-up creatures unless we ask for them. Which we won't.

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Source: Where the goblins came from



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