Is ChatGPT part of a globalist conspiracy to force you to eat bugs? One idiot says yes

A conspiracy minded beef seller shares his thoughts on artificial intelligence and bug-eating

As a lefty, I spend much of my time worrying about real political threats—attacks on abortion rights, the anti-trans backlash, the rise of the far right, increasing inequality, you know the drill. Conservatives, on the other hand, spend much of their time fighting imaginary dragons they’ve concocted in their own minds—drag queens “grooming” their children, “woke” sports teams pushing the “gay agenda,” globalist elites plotting to make us all eat bugs.

Yes, bugs. There are more than a few on the right today utterly convinced that global elites like Bill Gates and World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab are secretly, or not so secretly, attempting to build a new world order in which those on the top eat delicious steaks and those on the bottom have to make do with protein from crickets. “As I’ve long-argued on most of my websites,” JD Rucker, the proprietor of beef-selling website Whole Cows, writes on his blog,

the globalist elite cabal desperately wants us to abandon real meats such as beef and chicken, replacing them with plant-based meats, lab-grown meats, and insects. … They weaponize climate change hysteria to force obtuse policies on us. Replacing real meat with abominable alternatives is one such policy.

Whole Cows sells frozen and freeze-dried beef delivered to your door and an assortment of conspiracy theories; you can get a discount on beef boxes with the promo code “no crickets.”

Rucker is also convinced that the elites are using artificial intelligence to push their agenda—including their sinister plans to force insects as food on the great unwashed of the world.

That’s why it’s no surprise that when I asked AI chatbot ChatGPT to write an article about lab-grown meat and insects replacing real meat, the result was perfectly aligned with the globalist agenda.

Keep in mind, I did not ask the AI bot to editorialize or make the case for lab-grown meat or insects. I simply asked it to write an article about the possibility. On its own accord, it added biased comments such as “lab-grown meat and insects offer exciting alternatives.” Even as it described the downsides, it did so in a way that was basically a sales pitch for a future without real meat.

Bugs, delicious bugs

He posts GhatGPT’s little essay in its entirety. Far from a sales pitch, it’s a typically equivocal ChatGPT production, with a lot of “on the one hand this, on the other hand that” sort of writing. Yes, it called lab-grown meat and insects “exciting alternatives.” It also noted that outside of a few specific cultures, pretty much no one wants to eat bugs.

But maybe he’s got a point. When I asked ChatGPT—using the GPT-4 model—to write an article on the subject, it hailed the “delicious future of sustainable protein,” declaring that it was

high time we all hop on the bug-eating bandwagon. … As the world continues to grapple with the challenges of climate change and food security, it's time for us to open our minds (and our mouths) to the delicious possibilities of lab-grown meat and insects. Bon appétit!

Not so fast, bug-lovers

Of course, with ChatGPT, you kind of get what you ask for. When I prompted it for an essay arguing against the use of insectsas food and lab-grown meat, it happily complied with this request as well, writing that lab-grown meat was “costly, energy-intensive, and far from natural” and declaring insects to be unsuitable for human consumption in various ways, noting that they contain a substance that is hard for humans to digest, and that they could spread disease and increase pesticide use. Moreover, it noted, “many Western societies view insects as pests rather than food, and convincing people to overcome their aversion to eating bugs is no small task.” It concluded by warning us not to “blindly embrac[e] these novel food sources.”

Some people use AI chatbots to write code. Some use them to research and (ahem) write essays for school. Others have torrid affairs with their “AI Companions.”

And then there are those who ask ChatGPT about eating bugs and get mad at the answers.

Art by Midjourney