Plus: AI scammers, please stop picking on our local councils ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

October 15, 2025 | Read online
# ChatGPT going horny mode, PM's deets leaked and privacy Android fork Plus: AI scammers, please stop picking on our local councils
Edition 2439
"woodland dell" (Flickr: ono no komachi)
Good afternoon! I write to you from SXSW Sydney, where I just saw a government minister dick around with a lunar rover using an Xbox controller.
It’s a truly dogshit photo but here’s the federal minister for industry and innovation Tim Ayres
# The News
### OpenAI says it’s cured AI psychosis, now ChatGPT can get horny
OpenAI says it’s fixed fuelling users’ psychosis and will soon roll out a friendlier version of the chatbot that will sext! OpenAI’s Sam Altman says the company will get rid of some of the safety features for mental health issues now that it’s been able to “mitigate” those issues. Sure. They’re going to put out a new ChatGPT version that will be more personal, like its old ChatGPT 4o, and will even be capable of “erotica for verified adults.”
| Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social |
Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year
5:05 PM • Oct 14, 2025
645 Likes 127 Reposts | 155 Replies
The Sizzle: Whatever is going on at OpenAI, it feels like they’re in their “fuck it let’s just do it” stage. I would characterise the reaction to this as pretty negative (404 Media, $)
I don’t think people are being unfairly worried, but I want to focus on something different: Altman specifically cites OpenAI joining the trend of age checking their users as one of the reasons they can be a bit saucy with ChatGPT.
I think this is a good principle. For the past 10-15 years, the majority of the most popular social media platforms have been sex-negative spaces that are hostile to sex educators, sex workers or even just normal people talking about the most human and natural activity that everyone does. This is because of fear-mongering that children could see sexual content (god forbid!). One of the silver linings of the age-gating of the internet should be that maybe, just maybe, we actually should “treat adults like adults” as Altman said.
We should be apprehensive. Lord knows that OpenAI doesn’t have a great track record of being safe, despite AI safety being its supposed raison d'être. But I don’t think we should confuse legitimate concerns about its implementation with the principle that, hey, maybe sex shouldn’t be banished from mainstream online life!
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Prime Minister among powerful Australians whose details have been exposed
Anthony Albanese, Chris Minns and Sussan Ley are among the people whose personal phones numbers are reportedly exposed on the website of a contact aggregator company (Ette Media). Independent outlet Ette Media found out about ContactOut when founder (and friend of the Sizzle) Antoinette Lattouf was told her private number was on the website. The company, founded by an Aussie but based in US, claims that it scrapes the internet to find phone numbers and email address of people that it sells access to (AFR). The AFP have reportedly asked the company to take down the prime minister’s phone number (Guardian).
| ette.media |
ette.media
Add a comment... |
The Sizzle: An interesting question is “where on the internet did this company scrape the phone number from?” These phone numbers may have come from third parties disclosing them — people sharing emails with signature blocks from the prominent people or even publishing media releases online. Or it’s possible that they’ve come from leaked databases that this company has just sucked up with no regard for the ethics.
Fundamentally, it doesn’t matter. In an age where it’s seemingly simple to scrape everything online, all it takes is one person’s ill-advised or unintentional disclosure to expose your sensitive information and potentially put you at risk. It’s not a completely futile fight — things like right to be forgotten could help — but man it sucks that the decks are stacked against us trying to have any semblance of privacy.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Privacy version of Android could be gaining a bit of momentum
Privacy-focused Android version GrapheneOS says it will be used on the flagship device of a “major” smartphone maker (Android Authority). For those not familiar, GrapheneOS is a fork of Android that rips out most of the Google apps and, so far, has (ironically) only run on Pixel devices. GrapheneOS remains extremely niche but I wonder if it will become more popular with Google’s new changes for developers that will restrict side-loading unless the developer has identified themselves.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
Australia:
Updated government cyber advice for network defence (cyber.gov.au) ‘Sensitive personal information’: Leaked report reveals American Express security failures (The Age, $) National Archives identifies four areas of interest for AI (iTnews) Coles uses big data firm Palantir to be a 'happier place to work' (Capital Brief, $) “Ideologically motivated vandalism and theft” a growing problem for EV charging stations (The Driven)
Rest of the world:
Final Windows 10 Patch Tuesday update rolls out as support ends (BleepingComputer) OpenAI and Broadcom partner on AI hardware (TechCrunch, $) Meta and Google stop political ads, hurting research on EU (EUobserver, $) Instagram is making all teen accounts ‘PG-13’’ (The Verge) Spotify’s video podcasts are coming to Netflix next year (TechCrunch, $) Accent Explorer (BoldVoice) I let my AI agents run unsupervised for 24 hours (Justcopy dot ai)
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### AI scammers, please stop picking on our local councils
I feel bad for the poor Noosa Council. They were defrauded of $2.3 million dollars — although had $400,000 returned by the banks — using AI to “imitate personalities” (ABC News). We don’t know many details, but targeting a local council feels like scamming my tech illiterate uncle. Sure you might make a lot of money, but it feels mean!
Anyway, the mayor says they will “update [the council’s] software” so I’m sure that will solve everything…
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
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# The End
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