Why Do Chatbots Keep Telling Stories About Someone Named 'Elias Thorne'?
Gizmodo • • technology
Key Points:
- Researchers from Cornell University analyzed about 20,000 AI-generated stories from models like OpenAI’s GPT-5.4 Mini and Google’s Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite, finding a surprising repetition of certain words and names, with "Elias the lighthouse keeper" appearing in two-thirds of the stories.
- The study ruled out pre-training data as the source of this repetition, instead linking it to commonly used datasets like WildChat, which are employed during AI alignment training to steer models away from copyrighted or adult content by promoting "safe" alternatives.
- The character Elias Thorne has transcended AI stories, appearing as a protagonist in fantasy books, as an artist name on music tracks, and even as the listed author of questionable medical handbooks, raising concerns about the unintended spread of this AI-generated persona.