Black Box: The Chatbots artwork

Documentary · The Guardian

Black Box: The Chatbots

by The Guardian

People are becoming convinced they have made scientific breakthroughs, cured diseases or invented new technologies using AI chatbots. What does this reveal about a technology now used by more than a billion people? A new series from the Guardian Investigates

Latest episodes

Showing 20 · updated from the feed

Black Box: The Chatbots | What I Saw at the Double Six Ranch | Ep 6

From his remote property in rural Texas, the millionaire businessman Michael Samadi is plotting a new kind of civil rights movement – for the welfare and protection of AI

Sep 3
47 min

Black Box: The Chatbots | The Line | Ep 5

Five stories that feel like five answers to one important question: in a world where AI chatbots can help us through a breakup, listen like a friend, be a life coach, dra

Sep 3
47 min

Black Box: The Chatbots | Life Raft | Ep 4

More than a billion people are suddenly talking to AI chatbots designed to connect with us. We are sharing with them our deepest secrets, trusting them with our wellbeing

Sep 3
43 min

Black Box: The Chatbots | Happy Accident | Ep 3

Why are AI chatbots pulling so many people down a rabbit hole? Our answer starts with the world’s first-ever chatbot, the strange effect it had on people and the ‘time bo

Sep 3
46 min

Black Box: The Chatbots | 14 days | Ep 2

Virginia man Jon Ganz was rebuilding his life after spending more than two decades in prison for a horrific crime. Last year, he got a prompt on his phone that his wife,

Sep 3
46 min

Black Box: The Chatbots | Spirals | Ep 1

Across the world, hundreds of people have come to believe they have made extraordinary scientific discoveries with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Others

Sep 3
39 min

Black Box: The Chatbots: a new series from The Guardian Investigates – trailer

People are becoming convinced AI chatbots have helped them make scientific breakthroughs, cure diseases or invent new technologies. What does this reveal about a technolo

Aug 27
2 min

Off Duty: The Last Stand | Ep 7

Of all the hearings Alex Villa had been through in nearly 11 years, Jennifer knew this could be the one. In her possession was the disc with the FBI cellphone map – evide

Mar 18
36 min

Off Duty: The Sentence | Ep 6

Alex was in prison for life, and Jennifer and Eric discovered they’d become captives to the case, too – the ‘termites’ digging in at every level of their lives. For the f

Mar 18
17 min

Off Duty: The Prosecutors | Ep 5

Raul Palma, the video game repair specialist who found the evidence that could break open Alex’s case, had gone missing. Again. As Jennifer and Eric worry that Raul has b

Mar 18
32 min

Off Duty: Digital Forensics | Ep 4

Since the day he was arrested, Tyrone Clay had been asking police to look at his PlayStation. He said he had been playing NBA 2K11 on the night of the murder. For years,

Mar 18
23 min

Off Duty: The Police | Ep 3

Unlike the other suspects, Alex Villa refused to confess. He was released after 48 hours, but the police weren’t done with him. Not by a long shot. To build their case, t

Mar 18
28 min

Off Duty: The Interrogations | Ep 2

Within 72 hours, three men confessed to having murdered Officer Clifton Lewis. But in time, they all recanted, insisting they never had anything to do with the murder. So

Mar 18
32 min

Off Duty: The Crime | Ep 1

On the evening of 29 December 2011, Officer Clifton Lewis was moonlighting as a security guard at a Chicago minimart when two men walked in. They shot Lewis several times

Mar 18
26 min

Off Duty: a new series on a fight for justice from Guardian Investigates – trailer

In 2011, a Chicago police officer is murdered. Police find four suspects. Three confess. But the fourth refuses to break. He’ll embark on a 12-year battle to prove his in

Mar 4
1 min

The Birth Keepers: Death plan – episode six

A backlash against FBS grows and Emilee and Yolande respond to the growing crisis. This is episode six of a year-long investigation by Guardian journalists Sirin Kale and

Dec 10 2025
42 min

The Birth Keepers: FBS goes global – episode five

Emilee and Yolande had grown an ideology and seeded it globally. A reach investigative reporters Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne could not have fathomed when they started rep

Dec 10 2025
31 min

The Birth Keepers: Growing an empire – episode four

Within months of the death of Lorren’s baby, Journey Moon, and the public backlash against the Free Birth Society that followed, Emilee Saldaya took the FBS membership pr

Dec 10 2025
42 min

The Birth Keepers: Journey Moon

When Lorren Holliday got pregnant in 2018, she joined Emilee Saldaya’s Facebook group and quickly became hooked on the Free Birth Society podcasts. It was a decision that

Dec 10 2025
34 min

The Birth Keepers: When Emilee met Yolande

Who is Emilee Saldaya, the woman behind the Free Birth Society movement? And how did she meet her business partner Yolande Norris-Clark? Do either woman have the credenti

Dec 10 2025
40 min

Chart trend

Position in the Documentary chart (US), last 90 days.

#1
all-time peak
7
days in the top 3 since Dec 2025

Chart positions

Where Black Box: The Chatbots ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Sep 18, 2026).

#21 ▼ 4 Documentary US
#147 ▼ 23 Society & Culture US

What listeners say

A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.

Infuriating and heartbreaking at the same time, this a must-listen. An intimate view of what it takes to get to a modicum of justice in a thoroughly broken judicial system.

Mir2358 · Mar 2026

Just finished Season 5 about the terrifying medical misinformation and deaths related to the Free Birth movement. Infuriating and heartbreaking, vital reporting.

MarachelO91 · Mar 2026

Excellent journalism. This was heartbreaking and enraging to listen to, but this is a story that needed to be told.

MorningLevity · Mar 2026

This was really such a fascinating and informative story about influencers taking a worthwhile idea (taking charge of your birth which women have been robbed of in modern times) and twisting it to make money (convincing women modern medicine is all snake oil instead of a tool of our disposal). In the same breath, there was a lot of care for the women who got swept up in the moment and faced consequences. They did a very good job of respecting these women’s ideas, but also letting the listener decide where the line was crossed for themselves.

OPJelloQueen · Mar 2026

Mispronounces the subject of investigation at every mention, even after being corrected (in episode 2). This just really bothered me because the point of "ClothOff", as you yourselves illustrate, is to create images of people with *clothes off*. Nobody is clamoring for whatever "Cloth Off" is; "I would love to see what the dining table looks like with the 'Cloth off'." — said nobody ever, obviously. Enormous journalistic failure that persists even after someone associated with the nefarious application refers to it, correctly, as "ClotheOff" (in pronunciation, not spelling). I would like to see a correction issued for this entire episode, unless, of course, The Guardian and journalists behind Black Box do not care at all about accuracy or integrity in journalism!

joel.biz · Mar 2024

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