FAIK

Chapter 4Bias, Data Poisoning, & Output Oddities

Whispers from the Static

The words on the screen were wrong…a lie. And only Alex could see it.

Alex was used to pressure. He was the chief speechwriter for the president of the United States, after all. Pressure came with the job. But this was different. This time, the threat came from an unexpected source: the AI assistant he’d been relying on for months.

He felt like a trusted collaborator was stabbing him in the back. Gaslighting him. Worse.

It started small. Odd phrases. Questionable stats. Fictitious names…all somehow being woven into the AI’s revisions to the president’s upcoming address on the crisis in Eastern Europe. As he dug deeper, scrutinizing the output, his stomach sank. The problem became clear.

His new trusty AI speech writing partner was weaving a web of fabrications, inventing events quoting nonexistent sources. And worse.

In one section, the AI claimed that Russian troops engaged in a deadly skirmish with NATO forces on the Polish border—an event that never happened. With all the current global chaos, it looked entirely plausible on the page. And it would feel accurate and forceful as the president denounced the atrocity. Alex could even hear the president’s voice in his head as he might deliver the lines. But the text was a lie…and could have devastating consequences from the presidential podium.

Alex’s heart raced as he tried to reason with the AI, to convince it to stick to facts. But the more Alex ...