ChatGPT’s David Mayer AI Mystery and Response of OpenAI

Until recently, users found that when they typed “David Mayer” into ChatGPT, the AI froze or produced error messages. The quirk raised curiosity and many theories online.

David Mayer AI Glitch on ChatGPT

Some people believed the problem was related to David Mayer de Rothschild, a British environmentalist and member of the Rothschild family. However, when users entered his full name, ChatGPT responded appropriately, suggesting the problem wasn’t related to him.

Others speculated that a “David Mayer” had invoked the “right to be forgotten,” a legal principle in the EU allowing private individuals to demand that personal information about them be removed from the internet. That could have prevented ChatGPT from processing the name.

So did the Glitch really happen? Yes

OpenAI later explained that it was because of an internal privacy tool that malfunctioned and had ‘falsely’ flagged the name ‘David Mayer’. Because of this glitch, the processing of the name resulted in ChatGPT failing and was unrelated to any particular individual or legal request.

This not an isolated case, previously other glitches were reported such as when ChatGPT was unable to count How Many of the Letter ‘R’ Are in the Word Strawberry?

The harmless incident illustrates the complexity of Generative AI systems and the puzzles related to the treatment of information about individuals. This further develops transparency and ongoing oversight so that AI tools can perform without violating the rights of an individual.

Who’s David Mayer Rothschild ?

David Mayer de Rothschild was born on August 25, 1978, in London, England, and is a British adventurer, environmentalist, and a member of the famous Rothschild banking family. He is the youngest of three children born to Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and Victoria Lou Schott. His middle name, “Mayer,” is in honor of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the founder of the family’s banking empire.

Educated at Harrow School and later at Oxford Brookes University, David obtained a B.Sc. (Hons) in Political Science and Information Systems. He furthered his studies in natural medicine at the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London, where he obtained an advanced diploma in 2002.

David has led a number of important expeditions to draw attention to environmental issues, including crossing the Arctic and Antarctic regions and setting the world record for the fastest crossing of the Greenland ice cap. In 2010, he began the “Plastiki” expedition, sailing across the Pacific Ocean on a catamaran made from reclaimed plastic bottles to bring attention to plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.

In 2009, the United Nations Environment Programme awarded David as a “Climate Hero” for his environmental work. Other than expeditions, he has produced the 2017 docudrama “Becoming Bond” about casting George Lazenby as James Bond.

As of 2020, David lives in Los Angeles together with his wife, the actress Karina Deyko. Although his net worth is not revealed, he may be expected to receive a portion of the huge fortune amassed by the Rothschilds, estimated at approximately US$1 billion.

As previously mentioned in the first part of this article, recently, David made headlines when news spread that AI chatbot ChatGPT couldn’t process queries about him, further stirring debates on possible censorships or technical glitches in artificial intelligence systems.