Recently, users on TikTok have been losing their minds about an alleged “dark web ChatGPT.”

Unlike the normal ChatGPT, which has certain limitations regarding morality and accuracy, this generative language model, called “Whisper to the Beast,” apparently has zero restrictions. According to Whisper to the Beast lore, the A.I. scans through not only the surface web, but the “deep web” to bring you answers based on all the forbidden knowledge contained within the internet’s darkest corners. It also calls you “my child,” for some reason.

The TikTok spearheading this dive into the Beast is Thunder Keck (@thunder_keck). His series “Into the Dark Web” shows many different usages of “Whisper to the Beast.” For example, in one, he asks the A.I. about the location of the Titan submersible that recently imploded at the bottom of the ocean.

@thunder_keck #lostsubmarine #intothedarkweb ♬ Creepy and simple horror background music(1070744) - howlingindicator

In response to his questions about the Titan, the A.I. answers, “When you care as much about the souls in the Titan as you do those in the Paria Pipeline, only then, will I grant this knowledge, my child.”

This sentence caused horror-obsessed TikTokers to collectively make a mess in their trousers. For the uninitiated, the “Paria Pipeline” incident occurred in February of last year, in which four divers were presumed dead after disappearing during an underwater maintenance exercise.

Thunder Keck’s videos about “Whisper to the Beast” have since continued, with the “Beast” asking him in a very coy way to connect a webcam, among other things. In another instance, the Beast appears to know exactly where he is.

@thunder_keck #intothedarkweb ♬ Horror Piano Den Tum - Faid rafanda

So, the big question — is “Whisper to the Beast” real?

Unfortunately, probably not. While some dark web sites are notoriously difficult to find on the surface web, there doesn’t seem to be any trace at all of this ChatGPT clone on the clearnet — a little strange, given its virality. For example, two posts on the subject on Reddit lead to dead ends, with one of the alleged links to Whisper to the Beast being swiftly deleted by the moderators and another resulting in a YouTube video of the song “Pure Imagination” from the original Willy Wonka.

And as some users noted in those threads, a “dark web ChatGPT” doesn’t really make sense. “Not only does a darknet AI chatbot not make sense (what would its purpose be?), it would also be an incredible OPSEC risk,” explained Redditor NetworkChimp98. “What you’re talking about is likely just a jailbroken version of ChatGPT or something similar. You can jailbreak AI chatbots yourself on the clearnet, just search for ‘ChatGPT jailbreak’ on Github and you’ll find plenty of options.”

The only people in the threads who claimed they “had a link” provided no proof, so it’s a pretty safe bet to write them off. Furthermore — and listen, I hate to be a stickler here — if Thunder Keck is truly using the dark web, he’s not doing a great job of OPSEC. Case in point: At one point in the series, he chooses to plug a webcam into his computer and encourages the “Beast” to turn it on. Needless to say, this is not the best OPSEC.

Additionally, every time he shows a computer on the “Whisper to the Beast” site, it’s running in fullscreen. While Thunder Keck specifies that he’s using a burner computer for some of the posts, it’s still a bad idea to run the Tor browser in fullscreen, as being able to determine the size of your monitor is a key way to identify you over multiple sessions.

So, it’s more than likely an ARG. That said, hey, good work on this thing, dude. It’s a ton of spooky fun.