{"product_id":"9781399635882","title":"SolidGoldMagikarp : A Descent Into the AI Underworld","description":"\u003cp\u003eTop notch. Unfolding like a nerdy occult techno-thriller, Watkins  tells the weird tale of how he discovered two ghosts in the LLM machine'  ERIK DAVIS, author of High Weirdness  A gripping descent into the hidden psychology of AI, and the strange subcultures trying to control it before it destroys us  When English mathematician Matthew Watkins went to San Francisco to  study an early version of ChatGPT, he expected dry technical work.  Instead, he uncovered a series of 'rare tokens' that made the system go  haywire. Some produced gibberish. Others turned it hostile. One trigger  word - petertodd - sent the machine into what looked like full-blown  paranoia. Was it a simple bug? A trail of breadcrumbs left by  whistleblowers? Or a glimpse into how AI really thinks?The  search for answers pulls Watkins into the bewildering world of AI safety  research. In this rapidly expanding domain, the line between science  and belief blurs: billionaires play god while rogue chatbots win  fortunes and cult followings. What starts as a computer mystery becomes  something much bigger: both a window into the eerie inner worlds of LLMs  and a cryptic clue to what might be history's greatest power grab.   The  system has since been patched. Even so, before the window closed, we  saw inside for a brief moment - and what stared back at us was both  stranger and more human than we might like to admit.   'Utterly fascinating, hugely relevant and brilliantly told . . . One of the most  compelling and bizarre mathematical adventures I have ever read' ALEX BELLOS, author of Think Twice'Watkins was the sole witness to the weirdest - and perhaps most  important - story in AI. His rigorous obsession with this mystery will  become yours' CULLEN HOBACK, director of Money Electric\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rye Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55732353368440,"sku":"9781399635882","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0064\/1368\/0730\/files\/9781399635882.jpg?v=1794283593","url":"https:\/\/ryebooks.co.uk\/products\/9781399635882","provider":"Rye Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}