ChatGPT keeps sending people with account problems to a news site's inbox

404 Media says it is getting a stream of AI-written emails from people with ordinary tech problems, such as a banned Instagram account, asking its journalists to investigate. In one case shared with the site, a man in Russia asked ChatGPT how to get his account back; it said emailing Meta was probably not possible, suggested contacting journalists, listed outlets including 404 Media with a reporter's email address, and then wrote the email he sent. 404 Media says that since it began asking senders how they found it, about two weeks ago, every one said an AI chatbot recommended it, and in many cases the chatbot wrote the email, based on a handful of conversations it reviewed. On Hacker News (17 top-level comments) there was no consensus. Many commenters blamed big platforms rather than ChatGPT, saying they offer no human support and that media attention is often the only thing that works. The most-replied comment worried that AI lets anyone fire off requests that create work for real people. One commenter guessed the bot picked up the idea from tip-line notes in 404 Media's own articles, and another said being recommended by AI is valuable and businesses should lean into it. Sorted take: chatbots already act as a help desk for your customers, so it is worth knowing what they tell people about you.