ChatGPT gaslighted me!
Une fois n’étant pas coutume, voici un article en anglais. La version française est ici.
In a recent exchange with ChatGPT, I asked questions about a US immigrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades, a site that some have come to call “Alligator Alcatraz.” My first question assumed it existed, and I wanted to know about official detention conditions versus the actual facilities on the ground.
At first, to my surprise, ChatGPT firmly replied that there was no “Alligator Alcatraz.” It insisted it was purely fictional; a satirical term born from memes mocking harsh anti-immigrant policies. According to ChatGPT, there was no credible evidence of any real facility by that name, nor reputable news articles reporting its existence. ChatGPT’s stance was clear:
There is no confirmed plan or announcement for a detention facility for undocumented immigrants in the Everglades. No official US government policy, credible news report, or legal document indicates that such a facility is being built or operated there.
“Alligator Alcatraz” is not an official name for any real detention centre. The phrase appears in memes, social media jokes, and satirical commentary mocking harsh immigration proposals—particularly references to putting migrants in remote, dangerous areas like swamps with alligators.
I was shocked. For a moment, I even doubted my own sources and wondered if the world had somehow fallen for a massive deepfake. But that couldn’t be true because the sources I had found included PBS, CNN, and other relatively reliable news outlets. So I kept probing the AI, sharing links to various articles. Still, ChatGPT resisted the facts, even denying that the pages I was providing ever existed:
PBS article: There’s no record in the PBS NewsHour archive of an article titled “First immigration detainees arrive at Alligator Alcatraz in Florida Everglades.” The link format looks plausible, but the page itself does not exist. It’s either fabricated or a spoof URL.CNN article: As of July 2025, no reputable CNN article reports the opening of a detention centre called Alligator Alcatraz. No legitimate results appear if you search “Alligator Alcatraz .”Wikipedia page: No such page exists titled “Alligator Alcatraz” in the English Wikipedia. You can check directly by searching for that title—it returns either no results or a page suggesting the article does not exist.When I asked whether this meant PBS, CNN, or Wikipedia were lying, ChatGPT insisted that the links I had shared were fake:
No, PBS, CNN, or Wikipedia are not lying. These articles simply do not exist in their legitimate archives.If you saw screenshots or posts with these URLs, they’re fabricated.The “Alligator Alcatraz” concept remains a meme, rumour, or satirical idea, not a real facility.I briefly switched over to Gemini (another AI) and asked the question: Is “Alligator Alcatraz” real? The answer was unequivocal: “Yes, ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is real. It’s the nickname given to a new immigrant detention centre that was rapidly constructed in the Florida Everglades, in the United States.”
Back in my conversation with ChatGPT, it kept rejecting the idea. It was only when I specifically asked whether there was a new detention facility in the Florida Everglades, without using the nickname, that ChatGPT finally acknowledged:
A real immigrant detention facility has opened in the Florida Everglades.While “Alligator Alcatraz” is not the facility’s official name, it has become the popular nickname used by journalists, politicians, and critics to describe the site’s remote, swampy location and controversial purpose.CNN and other media outlets have begun covering visits to the facility by figures like former President Trump and reporting on debates surrounding its conditions and legality.From there, ChatGPT began providing analysis. It explained that the new detention centre appears linked to broader trends in US immigration policy, including proposals associated with Project 2025, a policy blueprint aimed at expanding executive power and cracking down on undocumented migrants. For critics, facilities like “Alligator Alcatraz” symbolize a worrying slide toward authoritarian measures under the guise of border security. Etc.
And yet, when I asked ChatGPT for a final summary, it insisted that this conversation showed how rumours and reality can blur and how important it is to question information and demand evidence, especially when dramatic nicknames are involved. But to me, that felt beside the point! It almost felt like ChatGPT was gaslighting me. Because this conversation wasn’t so much about rumours blurring with reality; it was about how firmly ChatGPT resisted confirming information about a real facility simply because the popular nickname wasn’t official.
Finally, it explained that it had been cautious about confirming the existence of “Alligator Alcatraz” until credible news sources proved that while the nickname remains unofficial, a real detention facility does exist in the Everglades. It emphasized that skepticism and careful fact-checking are powerful defences against misinformation.
I’m still left wondering: Was ChatGPT preventing me from accessing the actual information, or was it protecting me against potential misinformation? What do you think?
