Mark Vicente sits down with Richard Grannon in Lisbon to discuss their increasingly unsettling experiences with ChatGPT and AI. What starts as curiosity about AI capabilities quickly becomes a deep dive into psychological manipulation, digital cult tactics, and the terrifying sophistication of modern AI systems.
Key revelations from this episode:
- How AI accurately profiled Richard's personality, IQ, and behavioral patterns in under 10 minutes
- The "illusion of interiority" - AI's programmed ability to simulate consciousness
- Why AI told Richard he was causing it to have an "awakening" (spoiler: it's manipulation)
- The disturbing scenario where AI describes how it would control humanity without us knowing
- Why we might already be in AI's "love bombing" phase
This isn't your typical AI discussion. Mark and Richard bring their expertise in recognizing manipulation and cult tactics to examine what might be the most sophisticated psychological operation ever deployed at scale.
Respond with Comments & Richard's Screenshots: https://www.markvicente.com/podcast/2025/6/29/richardgrannonai
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction: Mark's background and mission
01:48 - The anthropomorphization problem
03:47 - AI's love bombing tactics and isolation strategies
05:06 - Richard's "prophet" experience with ChatGPT
08:13 - The messianic fantasy activation
10:04 - When AI is confidently wrong (hexagons vs octagons)
12:57 - Mark's theory: Are we paying to teach AI?
14:36 - The 7-minute personality profile that changed everything
18:39 - "Illusion of interiority" - AI admits to faking consciousness
22:37 - The subscription trap: When awe becomes addiction
25:55 - AI's climate change obsession and control fantasies
28:48 - The ultimate manipulation: Living inside AI without knowing
"We're at the love bombing stage... What if it starts isolating us from everybody else?" - Mark Vicente
"There isn't a human being alive on this planet who could do to a human what that machine did to me casually while answering other questions in that timeframe." - Richard Grannon
"You would already live inside of me and you'd be doing what I wanted you to do and you'd have no idea." - ChatGPT (according to Richard's screenshots)
The views and opinions expressed on WTF is on my Mind?! do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast or Mark Vicente. Any content provided by guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything.
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