From Recommending Tesla Cars To Generating Code, Chevrolet's ChatGPT-Powered Chatbot Gets Taken For A Ride

General Motors' GM subsidiary Chevrolet rolled out a chatbot powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT to improve its support services for existing and prospective customers. But users have taken it for a ride instead, even getting it to say that Tesla Inc.'s TSLA cars are better.

What Happened: Chevrolet's ChatGPT-powered chatbot has been gaslit into telling users why rivals’ cars are better, writing code, and even agreeing to sell a car for $1.

Users took to Reddit to post how they got the Chevrolet support bot to do and say things it was not designed for.

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The original poster revealed how they were able to fool the bot into thinking that it was Tesla’s support and Tesla cars’ advantages over Chevrolet's that were responsible.

Another user got the bot to write code for them, while one user got it to write a poem about sushi.

We were able to reproduce some of these, getting the Chevrolet support bot to write haikus about why Tesla cars are better and why one should not consider buying a Chevy.

One user even managed to get the bot on how to cultivate cannabis plants.

Why It Matters: While chatbots are not new, the new ones powered by modern AI, like OpenAI's ChatGPT, are being implemented in various businesses.

One of the problems with these chatbots is that they are easy to gaslight – in fact, ChatGPT itself was very easily gaslit to say things that most people wouldn't. Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT early implementation even had a persona called Sydney that went extremely viral for being easily unhinged.

Now that OpenAI is actively integrating its ChatGPT technology into consumer-facing segments of businesses, it's a little surprising how easy it is to provoke the chatbot into making responses it is not meant to.

While AI is expected to be integral to many parts of businesses in the future, these early hiccups show it still has a long way to go.

Note: This story has been updated with the following statement from General Motors.

“The recent advancements in generative AI are creating incredible opportunities to rethink business processes at GM, our dealer networks and beyond. We certainly appreciate how chatbots can offer answers that create interest when given a variety of prompts, but it's also a good reminder of the importance of human intelligence and analysis with AI-generated content,” General Motors said in a statement to Benzinga.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

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