Allan Brooks never set out to reinvent mathematics. But after weeks spent talking with ChatGPT, the 47-year-old Canadian came to believe he had discovered a new form of math powerful enough to take down the internet.
Brooks — who had no history of mental illness or mathematical genius — spent 21 days in May spiraling deeper into the chatbot’s reassurances, a descent later detailed in The New York Times. His case illustrated how AI chatbots can venture down dangerous rabbit holes with users, leading them toward delusion or worse.
That story caught the attention of Steven Adler, a former OpenAI safety researcher who left the company in late 2024 after nearly four years working to make its models less harmful. Intrigued and alarmed, Adler contacted Brooks and obtained the full transcript of his three-week breakdown — a document longer than all seven Harry Potter books combined.
On Thursday, Adler published
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