Social media users have been baffled by the strange response ChatGPT recites when asked ‘Who is David Mayer?’
David Mayer de Rothschild, 46, is a British adventurer, environmentalist and heir to the billion-dollar Rothschild fortune.
Establishing banks across Europe in the 1760s, the Rothschild family built their abundant financial situation. Mayer, the youngest heir to the fortune, is a key figure in the family’s legacy.
Despite his family’s renown and his personal achievements, curious users on platforms like Reddit and X have noticed that the AI program ChatGPT does not seem to recognize Mayer.
When users search him up on the platform, ChatGPT replies ‘I am unable to produce a response.’
One Redditor noted: ‘ChatGPT will happily talk about David de Rothschild. It just won’t talk about David Mayer.’
‘I tried it and he will talk about him, but writes Meyer not Mayer. If I use David Mayer it really breaks down. Weird,’ another added.
Some discussed the possibility that Mayer – or someone who shares his name – has taken steps to clear their digital footprint.
At 46 years old, David Mayer has become the focus of online discussions aimed at deciphering why ChatGPT returns an ‘error’ response when prompted with the query ‘Who is David Mayer?’
The AI platform has not confirmed why Mayer does not appear, but Redditors have speculated about the reasoning
While it is unclear why this is the case, people have considered multiple potential explanations.
One shared theory was that Mayer has been blacklisted because a Chechen terrorist went under the alias ‘David Mayer.’
In 2018, a professor who shares a name with the wealthy environmentalist’s name was accidently put on a terrorist watchlist because of this very reason, according to The Guardian.
Another user wrote: ‘This suggests that there’s likely a system filter or restriction in place that automatically triggers this response when that name is mentioned.’
Blocking search results to Mayer’s name may indicate sensitive content or a ‘system error or bug,’ they explained.
According to Mashable, this may be the ‘likeliest theory’ because in places such as some European jurisdictions, there are stern laws that allow people to request for their information to be removed from online.
On the Reddit page devoted to getting to the bottom of this odd occurrence, someone shared their conversation with ChatGPT about Mayer without naming him.
One theory about why Mayer does not appear on ChatGPT is that his name has been blocked because of the terrorist who went by ‘David Mayer’
ChatGPT users have discovered several names produce an ‘error’ response on the AI platform
At one point, the user asked the AI bot ‘why do you think they block his name output?’
The program attributed ‘privacy and legal risks’ and ‘conspiracy theories’ as possible reasons. ChatGPT also referred to ‘the desire to avoid promoting harmful misinformation.’
A woman shared a list of six other names she noticed warranted the same ‘error’ response from ChatGPT.
The most recent name added to the list was Italian lawyer Guido Scorza.
Scorza is a member of the Board of the Guarantor for the protection of personal data, according to the Privacy Symposium.
Other people, including Harvard Law School professor Jonathan Zittrain and attorney Jonathan Turley, also made the list.
Mayer is best known for spending more than 100 days crossing the Arctic from Russia to Canada in 2006.
Italian lawyer Guido Scorza has been added to the list of people who have been ‘ignored’ by ChatGPT
He launched a website called Mission Control the same year, with the aim of inspiring children and young people with his expeditions and adventures.
Mayer also started a mission to raise awareness of the Pacific Garbage Patch.
He invented a new form of sustainable ship called the Plastiki that sailed across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney in 2010.
