"Because big tech platforms essentially do not have customer support and make it impossible for their users to contact a...

"Because big tech platforms essentially do not have customer support and make it impossible for their users to contact a human, many people experiencing run-of-the-mill tech problems have turned to ChatGPT. And, increasingly, ChatGPT is telling people that have normal tech support problems that they have discovered something journalistically notable and that 404 Media, specifically, can help them. Around two weeks ago, we started emailing these people back and asking them how they found us; universally, the answer is that an AI chatbot recommended they reach out to us and, in many cases, the chatbot wrote the email, according to reviews of a handful of ChatGPT conversations shared with 404 Media.Over the last few months, 404 Media has gotten dozens of clearly AI-generated story leads and tips, many of which appear to have been copy pasted directly from ChatGPT or other chatbots into an email client by a real human. Some of these tips are (or could be) of legitimate public concern and w...