About Black Box: The Chatbots
People are becoming convinced they have made scientific breakthroughs, cured diseases or invented new technologies using AI chatbots. What does this reveal about a technology now used by more than a billion people? A new series from the Guardian Investigates
Black Box: The Chatbots episodeslatest 50
#6Black Box: The Chatbots | What I Saw at the Double Six Ranch | Ep 6
· 47:26
From his remote property in rural Texas, the millionaire businessman Michael Samadi is plotting a new kind of civil rights movement – for the welfare and protection of AI systems. Guardian journalist Michael Safi spends...
#5Black Box: The Chatbots | The Line | Ep 5
· 47:56
Five stories that feel like five answers to one important question: in a world where AI chatbots can help us through a breakup, listen like a friend, be a life coach, draft a difficult text message and do our work...
#4Black Box: The Chatbots | Life Raft | Ep 4
· 43:44
More than a billion people are suddenly talking to AI chatbots designed to connect with us. We are sharing with them our deepest secrets, trusting them with our wellbeing and acting on their advice. Across two powerful...
#3Black Box: The Chatbots | Happy Accident | Ep 3
· 46:33
Why are AI chatbots pulling so many people down a rabbit hole? Our answer starts with the world’s first-ever chatbot, the strange effect it had on people and the ‘time bomb’ that exploded when ChatGPT was released four...
#2Black Box: The Chatbots | 14 days | Ep 2
· 46:40
Virginia man Jon Ganz was rebuilding his life after spending more than two decades in prison for a horrific crime. Last year, he got a prompt on his phone that his wife, Rachel, believes changed their lives forever. It...
#1Black Box: The Chatbots | Spirals | Ep 1
· 39:16
Across the world, hundreds of people have come to believe they have made extraordinary scientific discoveries with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Others say their AI has ‘awakened’, or is leading them...
Black Box: The Chatbots: a new series from The Guardian Investigates – trailer
· 2:29
People are becoming convinced AI chatbots have helped them make scientific breakthroughs, cure diseases or invent new technologies. What does this reveal about a technology used by more than a billion people? A new...
#7Off Duty: The Last Stand | Ep 7
· 36:59
Of all the hearings Alex Villa had been through in nearly 11 years, Jennifer knew this could be the one. In her possession was the disc with the FBI cellphone map – evidence that prosecutors had never turned over. But...
#6Off Duty: The Sentence | Ep 6
· 17:43
Alex was in prison for life, and Jennifer and Eric discovered they’d become captives to the case, too – the ‘termites’ digging in at every level of their lives. For the first time, they thought about giving up. But then...
#5Off Duty: The Prosecutors | Ep 5
· 32:24
Raul Palma, the video game repair specialist who found the evidence that could break open Alex’s case, had gone missing. Again. As Jennifer and Eric worry that Raul has been spooked, they must face the prosecutors in a...
#4Off Duty: Digital Forensics | Ep 4
· 23:58
Since the day he was arrested, Tyrone Clay had been asking police to look at his PlayStation. He said he had been playing NBA 2K11 on the night of the murder. For years, the console sat in an evidence room gathering...
#3Off Duty: The Police | Ep 3
· 28:31
Unlike the other suspects, Alex Villa refused to confess. He was released after 48 hours, but the police weren’t done with him. Not by a long shot. To build their case, the state relied on three people who claimed they...
#2Off Duty: The Interrogations | Ep 2
· 32:16
Within 72 hours, three men confessed to having murdered Officer Clifton Lewis. But in time, they all recanted, insisting they never had anything to do with the murder. So if they didn’t do it, why did they say they did?...
#1Off Duty: The Crime | Ep 1
· 26:14
On the evening of 29 December 2011, Officer Clifton Lewis was moonlighting as a security guard at a Chicago minimart when two men walked in. They shot Lewis several times, then took off with his gun and police star. A...
Off Duty: a new series on a fight for justice from Guardian Investigates – trailer
· 0:57
In 2011, a Chicago police officer is murdered. Police find four suspects. Three confess. But the fourth refuses to break. He’ll embark on a 12-year battle to prove his innocence, against a system that refuses to admit...
#6The Birth Keepers: Death plan – episode six
· 42:32
A backlash against FBS grows and Emilee and Yolande respond to the growing crisis. This is episode six of a year-long investigation by Guardian journalists Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne
#5The Birth Keepers: FBS goes global – episode five
· 31:49
Emilee and Yolande had grown an ideology and seeded it globally. A reach investigative reporters Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne could not have fathomed when they started reporting on the story. They set out to see just how...
#4The Birth Keepers: Growing an empire – episode four
· 42:59
Within months of the death of Lorren’s baby, Journey Moon, and the public backlash against the Free Birth Society that followed, Emilee Saldaya took the FBS membership private, turning the business into a global...
#3The Birth Keepers: Journey Moon
· 34:40
When Lorren Holliday got pregnant in 2018, she joined Emilee Saldaya’s Facebook group and quickly became hooked on the Free Birth Society podcasts. It was a decision that led to tragedy. This is episode three of a...
#2The Birth Keepers: When Emilee met Yolande
· 40:52
Who is Emilee Saldaya, the woman behind the Free Birth Society movement? And how did she meet her business partner Yolande Norris-Clark? Do either woman have the credentials they are claiming? This is episode two of a...
#1The Birth Keepers: I choose this
· 36:34
The Free Birth Society was selling pregnant women a simple message. They could exit the medical system and take back their power. By free birthing. But Nicole Garrison believes FBS ideology nearly cost her her life...
#8Gina: a real life Succession story, episode 8
· 1:15:11
At 13, Gina Rinehart read a book that would help shape her worldview – Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. The novel’s capitalist underpinnings promote the idea that people should strive to be their best industrial selves. In...
#7Gina: a real life Succession story, episode 7
· 1:14:11
Gina Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock, is well known as a pioneer of Australia’s iron ore industry but few realise Hancock started his mining career on a smaller scale and digging for a different substance – blue...
#6Gina: a real life Succession story, episode 6
· 18:11
In the previous episode, we covered historical claims made over the years that Lang Hancock, Gina’s father, had two unacknowledged daughters with separate Indigenous women. Now, the daughter of Sella Robinson, one of...
#5Gina: a real life Succession story, episode 5
· 1:12:40
It’s the portrait of Gina Rinehart that launched 1,000 memes, went viral globally and became Australia’s Mona Lisa. But it’s also a symbol of how wealth intersects with other areas of life, including art and sport. How...
#4Gina: a real life Succession story, episode 4
· 45:04
Twenty years ago, John Hancock had dinner with his mother, Gina Rinehart. He says it’s the last positive interaction he had with her. In an in-depth interview, he explains how his relationship with her fell apart and...
#3Gina: a real life Succession story, episode 3
· 1:09:15
We unpack the bitter rivalries, court battles and family conflicts behind the Hancock fortune, and consider a fundamental question: is Rinehart a mining heiress or is she a self-made mining magnate? We look at her...
#2Gina: a real life Succession story, episode 2
· 56:59
How does Gina Rinehart, like her father before her, use wealth and power to influence Australian politics? Rinehart’s first major foray into the political spotlight was successfully lobbying against Labor’s mining...
#1Gina: a real life Succession story, episode 1
· 53:39
Gina Rinehart tops Australia’s rich list, worth almost $40bn. She’s also a climate sceptic, a Trumpette and a litigant – even against her own kids. Her life reads like a script from the TV series Succession. Senior...
#7Missing in the Amazon: the frontline – episode six
· 34:00
According to Beto Marubo, if Dom and Bruno did the same expedition in 2025, they would face the same levels of danger. The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, returns to the Javari valley and meets...
#6Missing in the Amazon: the fightback – episode five
· 38:19
Funerals are held for Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira and there is hope that the election of President Lula will mean new protections for the Amazon – and that the killers of Dom and Bruno will face justice. But...
#5Missing in the Amazon: the ambush – episode four
· 25:25
The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, recalls the moment that he and others on the search team found Dom and Bruno’s belongings in a hidden area of flooded forest. The team finally discover what has...
#4Missing in the Amazon: the protector and the poacher – episode three
· 35:08
Bruno Pereira was considered one of the great Indigenous protectors of his generation. And this made him an enemy of a man called Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, also known as Pelado. The Guardian’s Latin America...
#3Missing in the Amazon: the journalist and the president – episode two
· 29:57
What took British journalist Dom Phillips from the club nights of the UK dance scene as editor of MixMag to one of the most remote, and dangerous, corners of the Amazon rainforest? In 2022, Dom set off on a reporting...
#2Missing in the Amazon: the disappearance – episode one
· 26:46
Three years ago, British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous defender Bruno Pereira vanished while on a reporting trip near Brazil’s remote Javari valley. The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom...
#1Missing in the Amazon: a new Guardian investigative series – trailer
· 0:30
In one of the most remote corners of the Amazon jungle, a journalist and an indigenous defender disappear without a trace. Missing in the Amazon – our new six-part investigative podcast series uncovers what happened to...
#8Black Box: shut it down? – episode 7
· 41:16
For decades, Eliezer Yudkowsky has been trying to warn the world about the dangers of AI. And now people are finally listening to him. But is it too late?
#7Black Box: the white mask – episode 6
· 36:09
In January 2020, Robert Williams was arrested by Detroit police for a crime he had not committed. The officers were acting on a tip not from a witness or informant. In fact, not from a person at all
#6Black Box: Bing and I – episode 5
· 42:00
Two stories about the way AI could – in fact, already is – making the world better. In Montana, when Lee Johnson discovered his wife, Yokie, had cancer, he turned to AI – and was surprised by the answers he got...
#5Black Box: repocalypse now – episode 4
· 34:33
When Eugenia Kuyda created Replika, the AI companion app, she had no idea it would be downloaded millions of times all around the world. The results were more powerful than she could ever have predicted. But so was the...
#4Black Box: the hunt for ClothOff, the deepfake porn app – episode 3
· 45:44
For the past six months, Guardian journalist Michael Safi has been trying to find out who is behind an AI company that creates deepfakes. Deepfakes that are causing havoc around the world, with police and lawmakers...
#3Black Box: the connectionists – episode 2
· 39:21
This is the story of Geoffrey Hinton, a man who set out to understand the brain and ended up working with a group of researchers who invented a technology so powerful that even they don’t truly understand how it works...
#2Black Box: the collision – episode 1
· 13:28
The beginning of a new series that explores seven stories and the thread that ties them together: artificial intelligence. In this prologue, Hannah (not her real name) has met Noah and he has changed her life for the...
#1Black Box: a new podcast series about AI and us – trailer
· 2:53
In rural Norway, a young woman’s boyfriend forgets who she is overnight. In Detroit, a man is arrested for a crime, but he was never there. In a Spanish town, disturbing pictures of young girls have appeared, but no one...
#7Can I tell you a secret? Episode seven: an update
· 10:48
Guardian producer Lucy Hough and reporter Matthew Weaver give an update on the outcome of Matthew Hardy’s appeal
#6Can I tell you a secret? Episode six: the winding clock
· 32:31
As the years tick by, journalist Sirin Kale speaks to victims and those who know Matthew to ask whether his stalking will ever truly end
#5Can I tell you a secret? Episode five: a mother’s love
· 42:22
Journalist Sirin Kale meets Matthew’s mother to uncover more about his past, and find out what might have motivated him to cyberstalk his victims for so many years
#4Can I tell you a secret? Episode four: a reckoning
· 39:45
Matthew’s victims come face to face with him as an attempt is made to stop his torment once and for all
#3Can I tell you a secret? Episode three: the man upstairs
· 34:38
Who is Matthew? Journalist Sirin Kale looks for clues about who this cyberstalker really is and why he creates chaos and fear in so many people’s lives
#2Can I tell you a secret? Episode two: the widening circle
· 39:11
As the cyberstalker spreads his net wider, anyone could be a target. The fast-changing world of social media creates new opportunities for him to find more victims. Only now, someone is watching him …
Podcasts like Black Box: The Chatbots
Frequently asked questions about Black Box: The Chatbots
How can I listen to Black Box: The Chatbots online for free?+
You can play Black Box: The Chatbots straight from this page: pick the episode you want and press play. There is no sign-up, no app to download and nothing to install.
How many episodes does Black Box: The Chatbots have?+
Black Box: The Chatbots has published 51 episodes so far. This page carries the 50 most recent, newest first.
Who presents Black Box: The Chatbots?+
Black Box: The Chatbots is presented by The Guardian.
What is the latest episode of Black Box: The Chatbots?+
The most recent episode is "Black Box: The Chatbots | What I Saw at the Double Six Ranch | Ep 6", published on 3 Sep 2026. New episodes appear here as soon as they go out on the programme's feed.
Can I listen to Black Box: The Chatbots from outside the UK?+
Yes. Black Box: The Chatbots plays over the internet, so it works from any country with no location restrictions.