OpenAI’s latest AI models developed an unexpected habit: talking about goblins. After users and employees noticed ChatGPT and related tools using odd creature-based metaphors, OpenAI investigated why words like “goblin,” “gremlin,” and even references to raccoons, trolls, ogres, and pigeons were appearing more often in responses. What started as a strange but mostly harmless language quirk became a useful example of how AI training can accidentally reward and spread unusual b