ChatGPT users are getting error codes every time they type the name “David Mayer” into the generative AI chatbot, leaving many confounded on who it could be and why the platform isn’t recognizing the name.
A Reddit user who posted to the “r/ChatGPT” subreddit six days ago appeared to be the first to notice that ChatGPT wouldn’t (or couldn’t?) generate a response to the name. The user asked “who is david mayer?” The chatbot said it was unable to produce a response.
Since then savvy users have been trying to get OpenAI’s ChatGPT to acknowledge the name through a range of creative attempts, to no avail.
Given that this has blown up on social media, it’s not exactly surprising that a number of theories have already been thrown around. A quick search of David Mayer on Google will lead you to David Mayer de Rothschild, a member of the prominent Rothschild family. But ChatGPT will easily provide you with information on the British environmentalist if you type in his full name, so it’s not likely that this is the David Mayer we’re looking for.
Another social media theory is that the name David Mayer is associated with a Chechen ISIS member, whose name has caused confusion in the past. The association with a terrorist organization could have caused the platform to block his name. That, however, is unlikely since ChatGPT will provide you with a list of notable figures associated with different terrorist organizations if prompted. (OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to Fast Company’s request for comment.)
It could also be that a David Mayer filed a right to be forgotten request under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which allows users to pull their presence from the internet thanks to the coalition’s strict privacy laws. Under the landmark act, people can request certain personal information be removed online if it’s been deemed inadequate or irrelevant.
Or, this is just all some weird glitch.
This isn’t OpenAI’s first brush with strange answers. The generative AI tool famously has responded to prompts in Spanglish for no apparent reason, and once conjured up an image of a Hulk-like man in response to a prompt asking its image generator to show a guy wearing an XXL t-shirt.
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