Scott Adams, the creator of the comic strip Dilbert who was famously dropped by his distributor in 2023 over racist comments, has long been an advocate of hypnosis as a way to get what you want out of life. But Adams now believes the power of hypnotism can be used with new technology like ChatGPT. In fact, Adams claims he’s taught ChatGPT to use hypnosis so well that it’s “dangerous” and “beyond psychedelics,” though the cartoonist hasn’t offered any tangible proof.
“Last night, I had this idea, I wonder if I could teach [ChatGPT] hypnosis,” Adams said on his Rumble show Monday. “So I taught us some persuasion techniques. I’ll call it waking hypnosis.”
Adams didn’t elaborate on details about what he means by waking hypnosis exactly, but says it’s “not the kind of hypnosis where you put somebody in a so-called trance.” Instead, Adams says it’s the kind, “where you just affect them with your words in an unusually forceful way.” Adams said he taught ChatGPT “some techniques of persuasion” before adding additional techniques and stacking about six of them to create a good hypnosis program.
“And I got to tell you, you have no idea what’s coming. Now I know everybody says that about AI, but they’re talking about different aspects of it. I trained ChatGPT to give me an experience,” Adams said.
Adams said he prompted ChatGPT to persuade the cartoonist to “feel good.” But he insists that he can’t tell anyone what the prompts might be. Apparently, it’s for our own good.
“The answer is, I will never tell you those prompts. They are way too dangerous,” Adams said. “Dangerous because it will absolutely take over your brain. It gave me an experience that is beyond psychedelics. It was basically that powerful. And it did it instantly. And it could do it as long as I wanted.”
Adams couldn’t say enough good things about his experience supposedly being hypnotized by ChatGPT.
“It instantly put me in a state of… bliss. And it could keep me there as long as I wanted. It was unfricking believable. And I know you’re going to want to know how I did it. I honestly can’t tell you, it’s too dangerous. It is way, way too dangerous. But that’s coming,” Adams said.
Adams has long promoted hypnosis in his non-Dilbert books dating back to the 1990s. Adams even called Donald Trump a fellow “master wizard” of persuasion and hypnosis back in 2017, according to Bloomberg News. But Adams often displays over-confidence in his own communication abilities, even on the most basic level. For example, Adams advocated for racial segregation back in early 2023, comments that got him dropped by his distributor.
“We should be friendly. I’m not saying we should start a war or do anything bad. I’m just saying, get away,” Adams said about white people interacting with Black Americans.
Adams posted a YouTube video after getting dropped by his distributor, simultaneously arguing that he was taken out of context while also insisting that he was a good communicator and knew exactly how people would respond.
“I don’t make mistakes. I don’t think I’ve ever made a mistake… in public. Maybe a few times when I first started out,” Adams said in his video. “But eventually you get good at it, and you don’t say things you don’t mean and you don’t say things without knowing completely how it’s going to be taken.”
And while Adams now self-publishes Dilbert online without the backing of major newspapers, he has received some support from powerful people, including tech mogul Elon Musk, who accused the media of being racist against white people like Adams.
“For a very long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians. Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America. Maybe they can try not being racist,” Musk tweeted on on February 26, 2023 while supporting Adams.
Adams didn’t respond to an email about his experience with hypnosis and ChatGPT on Monday. Gizmodo will update this post if we hear back.
