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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Arwa Mahdawi

The curious case of Elias Thorne – and what he tells us about AI inbreeding

Arwa Mahdawi 404 Media
A senior adult man wearing a yellow rain slicker raincoat and rain hat looking through binoculars while standing in front of a lighthouse
Nearly 90% of AI-generated stories share the same 11 words, including lighthouse and keeper. Photograph: Posed by a model; Willowpix/Getty Images

Ever heard of a shadowy figure called Elias Thorne? If you haven’t, try asking an AI chatbot to tell you a story.

In recent months, tech types and researchers have noticed a weird phenomenon: when prompted to tell a story, numerous popular LLMs, including ChatGPT and Claude, will spit out a tale featuring this mysterious Elias figure.

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