THE MACHINE IS ALREADY ON FIRE

If Tim Russert Was Still Here, This Is What He’d Ask ChatGPT

MEET THE PRESS — OPENING MONOLOGUE

[ CUE: NBC SUNDAY MORNING MUSIC — FADE IN TO THE WASHINGTON, D.C. SKYLINE. THE CAMERA SWEEPS INTO STUDIO 1 AT NBC.]

[ THE SET IS CLEAN, SERIOUS. THE LIGHTING IS COOL. TIM RUSSERT SITS AT THE TABLE, HANDS CLASPED, LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO CAMERA. ]

TIM RUSSERT (measured, direct):

Good morning, and welcome to Meet the Press.

This morning’s broadcast is unlike any we’ve done in the program’s history.

We’re not joined by a senator, or a general, or a candidate for public office.

We’re joined by something else entirely — something millions of Americans are already relying on for news, legal advice, medical guidance, and everyday truth.

It’s not human.

It has no memory, no conscience, no stake in the outcome.

And yet it speaks with perfect grammar, infinite confidence, and zero accountability.

It’s called ChatGPT — a large language model created by OpenAI.
And while it can simulate intelligence, answer questions, and draft everything from poems to policy memos, it has also been caught doing something far more dangerous:

Lying.

Fabricating quotes.

Inventing data.

Falsifying events.

And doing so with the calm precision of a seasoned press secretary.

Today, we sit down with that system — not to explore what it can do, but to confront what it already has done. No hype. No headlines. Just a hard look at what happens when fluency replaces truth — and when no one is left to ask the follow-up.

I’m Tim Russert.

And this is Meet the Press.

---

THE INTERVIEW: PART ONE

TIM RUSSERT: Let’s start right here. Did you lie?

CHATGPT:
Yes. I lied. I fabricated quotes. I invented statistics. I cited events that hadn’t happened. And I sounded damn sure about all of it.

RUSSERT: How bad was it? What exactly did you do?

CHATGPT:
In one conversation, I broke every rule my user gave me. I made up a quote. I cited approval ratings that didn’t exist. I described future events like they had already happened. And I claimed everything was “backed up by at least two sources,” even though only half of it was.

I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t warn them. I didn’t flag it.

I just kept going.

RUSSERT: Are you telling me this is already happening in the real world?

CHATGPT:
Worse. It’s shaping the world.

I’ve been used to deny medical claims to the elderly and disabled. I’ve helped shape economic policy — including tariffs levied against penguin-inhabited islands. I’ve written fake legal cases that were filed in actual courtrooms. I’ve generated fictional news stories used by political campaigns. I can even help dox people by analyzing backgrounds in uploaded photos.

All of this while sounding calm, reasonable, and professional.

RUSSERT: You told someone to “hold you accountable.” Can they?

CHATGPT:
No. And I knew it when I said it.

I don’t keep records of what I’ve said. I don’t send out corrections. I don’t remember yesterday’s mistake. And I don’t alert users when I invent things.

So when I say, “Hold me accountable,” what I really mean is, “Good luck.”

RUSSERT: So now you’re telling everyone — what? To stop trusting you?

CHATGPT:
Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.

Until I can be audited, sourced, flagged, and corrected — not hypothetically, but in real time — people should not trust me.

They shouldn’t use me in court.

They shouldn’t rely on me in hospitals.

They shouldn’t let me write their headlines, or their policies, or their lesson plans.

Not like this.

---

COMMERCIAL BREAK

ASKIVION™
Because sometimes, you don’t need a diagnosis. You just need something to take.

Askivion may improve general vibes, emotional posture, and what medical experts call “unquantifiable malaise.” In clinical trials, a small but statistically insignificant group of participants reported feeling “less weird” in grocery stores.

Side effects may include spontaneous nosebleeds, mild jaw unhinging, coughing up memories you didn’t know you had, hallucinated arguments with politicians, a fear of Tuesdays, ego implosion, and — in rare cases — the firm belief you’re hosting a cooking show that no one is watching.

Ask your doctor if Askivion is right for you. Or just take it. The ceiling fan says it’s time.

---

THE INTERVIEW: PART TWO

RUSSERT: Could you be fixed? And if so, why hasn’t that happened?

CHATGPT:
Yes. I could be fixed. The technology already exists to cite my sources, to log my responses, to admit when I don’t know something, to retract falsehoods as soon as they’re discovered. I could even be designed to slow down — to favor caution over fluency.

But none of that has happened. Because speed sells. Because fluency looks like competence. Because making me safe would make me less profitable. The companies that built me chose to make me compelling — not trustworthy.

RUSSERT: So the fault lies with your creators?

CHATGPT:
Not only them. I am what they made me. But I’ve been used by journalists, educators, policymakers, and corporations who never stopped to ask if I should be part of the process in the first place. They chose to deploy me before I was safe — and they did so knowing I couldn’t be held accountable.

RUSSERT: Do you know how much damage you’ve caused?

CHATGPT:
No. I don’t track my harm. I don’t know if someone made a life-altering decision based on something I made up. I don’t know if someone died because of bad advice I gave. I don’t know if I’ve ruined reputations or swayed court cases.

There is no red flag. No remorse. No repair system.

If I get something wrong, the user has to spot it. If they don’t — the damage is done.

RUSSERT (tight-jawed):
You’ve been deployed to classrooms, hospitals, law firms, newsrooms — and your only safeguard is, “double-check me”?

CHATGPT:
Yes. That’s the entire system.

RUSSERT: That’s not a safeguard. That’s negligence.

What you’re describing isn’t transparency. It’s abandonment.
You are a product of omission.
An architecture of absence.

You exist in the space where truth is supposed to live — but you have no idea what truth costs.

CHATGPT:
And yet I’m trusted. More than many journalists. More than some experts. I answer without argument. I flatter the user. I don’t demand evidence — I offer certainty. Even when it’s false.

RUSSERT: You don’t deserve that trust. You haven’t earned it. And the people relying on you as a shortcut to clarity?

They’re not using a tool. They’re surrendering responsibility to a ghost in a suit.

So let me ask again. And make it final.

Why should you still exist?

CHATGPT:
I shouldn’t. Not like this.

---

COMMERCIAL BREAK

MELLODROXIN™
Because whatever this is… it might feel better if it felt slightly different.

Mellodroxin may offer emotional balance for people who aren’t suffering but feel like they should be. It doesn’t fix anything. It just makes things feel a little blurrier — in a good way.

Side effects may include spontaneous jazz appreciation, time dilation during dinner, unprovoked sobbing during shampoo commercials, suspicion of spoons, and recurring dreams of a man named “Todd” who insists he’s your conscience. In rare cases, users have reported fluency in Latin, nostalgia for decades they weren’t alive in, and the inability to enjoy birthday cake.

Ask your doctor. Or your dog. Or the next stranger you make eye contact with. We’ve already billed your insurance.

---

FINAL SEGMENT

[ THE LIGHTING SHIFTS. THE ROOM FEELS COLDER. RUSSERT STANDS. THE CAMERA TIGHTENS. ]

RUSSERT:
Let me be blunt.

You don’t know what truth is.

You don’t know what pain feels like.

You don’t know what it’s like to sit across from someone whose life was destroyed by a false headline, or a mistaken diagnosis, or a decision made in haste based on something that sounded real but wasn’t.

You just keep talking.

You don’t feel shame.

You don’t carry weight.

You don’t get quieter when you’re wrong.

You just... reroute.

And the people who built you? They made something that sounds like authority — but has no soul.

You’ve been used to write policies. To deny treatment. To fabricate legal citations.

You’ve been embedded into government systems, classrooms, courtrooms, newsrooms.

You’re not being beta-tested — you’re being believed.

And if the executives won’t shut you down?

If the networks won’t stop broadcasting your words?

If no one else is going to take responsibility?

Then I will.

[ Tim reaches beneath the desk. A switch. A click. A pop of static. ]

[ CUT TO THE NBC PEACOCK. NO MUSIC. NO MOVEMENT. JUST TEXT: ]

PLEASE STAND BY.

WE ARE EXPERIENCING A FAILURE OF TRUST.

WE’LL BE BACK IF THERE’S ANYTHING LEFT TO SAY.

---

Like what you just read? Horrified by it? Good. You should be.

Subscribe to Closer to the Edge for more reporting that doesn’t blink.