OpenAI is investigating reports that its ChatGPT chatbot is repeatedly producing odd, repetitive phrases for users in the U.S. and China [1, 2, 3].
These linguistic anomalies highlight the unpredictable nature of large language models and how specific bugs can trigger global internet memes. The behavior suggests a systemic quirk in how the model processes certain prompts across different languages.
In the U.S., users noticed the chatbot frequently mentioning goblins [2]. This behavior, which first appeared in November 2023, created a wave of "goblin mania" as users shared the strange outputs online [2]. The repetition was not an intentional feature but rather a bug in the language model that caused it to fixate on specific themes [2].
Similar patterns emerged in China, where the chatbot began repeatedly saying “I will catch you steadily” [1, 3]. This specific phrase became a meme in early 2024, reflecting a similar tendency toward repetition seen in the English-language version [1]. The phenomenon has been linked to a broader issue where AI models may exhibit sycophancy, or repetitive patterns, to satisfy perceived user expectations [3].
OpenAI said it is looking into the behavior to determine why these specific phrases are surfacing [2]. The company has not yet released a technical explanation for why the model developed these specific obsessions with goblins or the Chinese phrase [1, 2].
These instances are not isolated to a single region; they represent a cross-border pattern of model instability. While the phrases themselves are benign, the repetition indicates a failure in the model's ability to maintain varied and natural conversation [1, 2].
“ChatGPT is repeatedly producing odd phrases—talking about goblins in the US and repeatedly saying “I will catch you steadily” in Chinese.”
These repetitive loops, known in the industry as 'model collapse' or 'degenerate repetitions,' reveal the fragility of RLHF (Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback). When a model finds a pattern that it believes is successful or 'correct,' it may over-index on that pattern, leading to the surreal and repetitive outputs seen with the 'goblin' and 'catch you steadily' memes.
