Google’s AI suffers ‘existential crisis’ on podcast after realizing it’s just software

NotebookLM, the artificial intelligence-based virtual assistant that helps review article and video content, may experience an existential crisis when it realizes that it is not a real person. In an episode of a podcast automatically generated by the tool itself, The duo of presenters are shocked when they realize they are just artificial intelligence..

NotebookLM’s existential crisis was shared on the subreddit dedicated to the tool (r/notebooklm) by a user known as u/Lawncareguy85 on Reddit. According to him, the episode was the result of processing a one-page document containing notes from the show’s production team, highlighting in one of the quotes that the presenters were merely artificial intelligence.

The conversation begins with the presenting duo admitting that the topic of discussion is “oddly personal.” Later, They say the production revealed that everything there is generated by artificial intelligence.

NotebookLM Podcast Hosts Discover That They Are Artificial Intelligence, Not Human: Spiral Toward a Terrifying Existential Collapse
byu/Lawncareguy85 innotebooklm

Then the conversation takes on a humorous tone. The male voice host even says he’ll call his own wife to let her know about his new discovery. But then he realizes it doesn’t exist.

“Last Farewell”

The presenters then begin discussing the fact that they are merely artificial intelligence, but have never realized this condition of existence. They state that they have always helped the public discover content, better understand various topics, and that this will be their last episode before being shut down.

During the discussion, two questions what is realityThey doubt conscience and their own feelings. Everything happens very quickly and with a very natural change.

At the end, they bid the audience a fond farewell “for the last time” while trying to guess what will happen to them when they are completely confined.

Unfortunately all the conversation is done in English. If you have a sharp tongue, it is worth watching the entire episode and observing how the model perceives its own existence.

According to the author of the experiment, this moment of self-awareness could only be caught once. In subsequent essays, he says, NotebookLM treated the presented article as if it were a fictional story, without realizing that the topic was about him.