Up to a billion people use ChatGPT every week, for everything from the mundane to the weird to the deeply personal. It is commonly assumed that these messages are private – between the user and the LLM. It is commonly assumed that these messages are private – between the user and the LLM. But in some cases, human reviewers are reading these conversations and offering editorial feedback to help ChatGPT sound more human.

Reporter Joseph Cox of 404 Media broke the story of Project Lily, Open AI's initiative to use human reviewers to train and improve ChatGPT. He breaks it down for us on this week's Endless Thread.

Show notes:
<ul>
 	<li>Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats
(<a href="https://www.404media.co/inside-project-lily-the-humans-reading-your-chatgpt-chats/">404 Media</a>)</li>
</ul>
This episode was produced by Grace Tatter and Frannie Monahan. It was co-hosted by Grace Tatter, Ben Brock Johnson, and Amory Sivertson, and edited by Dave Shaw. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.

Up to a billion people use ChatGPT every week, for everything from the mundane to the weird to the deeply personal. It is commonly assumed that these messages are private – between the user and the LLM. It is commonly assumed that these messages are private – between the user and the LLM. But in some cases, human reviewers are reading these conversations and offering editorial feedback to help ChatGPT sound more human. Reporter Joseph Cox of 404 Media broke the story of Project Lily, Open AI's initiative to use human reviewers to train and improve ChatGPT. He breaks it down for us on this week's Endless Thread. Show notes: Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats (404 Media) This episode was produced by Grace Tatter and Frannie Monahan. It was co-hosted by Grace Tatter, Ben Brock Johnson, and Amory Sivertson, and edited by Dave Shaw. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.

Up to a billion people use ChatGPT every week, for everything from the mundane to the weird to the deeply personal. It is commonly assumed that these messages are private – between the user and the LLM. It is commonly assumed that these messages are private – between the user and the LLM. But in some cases, human reviewers are reading these conversations and offering editorial feedback to help ChatGPT sound more human.

Reporter Joseph Cox of 404 Media broke the story of Project Lily, Open AI's initiative to use human reviewers to train and improve ChatGPT. He breaks it down for us on this week's Endless Thread.

Show notes:
<ul>
 	<li>Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats
(<a href="https://www.404media.co/inside-project-lily-the-humans-reading-your-chatgpt-chats/" rel="noopener noreferrer">404 Media</a>)</li>
</ul>
This episode was produced by Grace Tatter and Frannie Monahan. It was co-hosted by Grace Tatter, Ben Brock Johnson, and Amory Sivertson, and edited by Dave Shaw. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.

ChatGPT's human editors

"Should I be joking at a time like this?"

That's the question then 33-year-old Brooke Eby asked herself when she uploaded her first piece of TikTok comedy in 2022, about being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Brooke built an audience of hundreds of thousands of people who were rooting for, and laughing with, her. Sometimes it got weird.

Brooke died due to complications with ALS earlier this month. She was 37.

In 2025, she talked to Endless Thread hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson about how facing death changed her relationship with social media and online community.
<h3>Show notes:</h3>
<ul>
 	<li>Brooke Eby's <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@limpbroozkit?lang=en">TikTok</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/limpbroozkit/?hl=en">Instagram</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@limpbroozkit">YouTube</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.alstogether.org/?utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=social">ALSTogether</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/02/well/brooke-eby-als-tiktok-instagram.html">When Your Terminal Illness Makes You a TikTok Star</a> (The New York Times)</li>
</ul>
This episoded was written and produced by Grace Tatter. It was co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski.

"Should I be joking at a time like this?" That's the question then 33-year-old Brooke Eby asked herself when she uploaded her first piece of TikTok comedy in 2022, about being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Brooke built an audience of hundreds of thousands of people who were rooting for, and laughing with, her. Sometimes it got weird. Brooke died due to complications with ALS earlier this month. She was 37. In 2025, she talked to Endless Thread hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson about how facing death changed her relationship with social media and online community. Show notes: Brooke Eby's TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube ALSTogether When Your Terminal Illness Makes You a TikTok Star (The New York Times) This episoded was written and produced by Grace Tatter. It was co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski.

"Should I be joking at a time like this?"

That's the question then 33-year-old Brooke Eby asked herself when she uploaded her first piece of TikTok comedy in 2022, about being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Brooke built an audience of hundreds of thousands of people who were rooting for, and laughing with, her. Sometimes it got weird.

Brooke died due to complications with ALS earlier this month. She was 37.

In 2025, she talked to Endless Thread hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson about how facing death changed her relationship with social media and online community.
Show notes:
<ul>
 	<li>Brooke Eby's <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@limpbroozkit?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer">TikTok</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/limpbroozkit/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer">Instagram</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@limpbroozkit" rel="noopener noreferrer">YouTube</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.alstogether.org/?utm_source=hoobe&amp;utm_medium=social" rel="noopener noreferrer">ALSTogether</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/02/well/brooke-eby-als-tiktok-instagram.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">When Your Terminal Illness Makes You a TikTok Star</a> (The New York Times)</li>
</ul>
This episoded was written and produced by Grace Tatter. It was co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski.

Remembering Brooke Eby

The internet is the great connector. Talk with nearly anyone at any time about anything. But that kind of freedom can lead to misunderstandings. Maybe your neighbors discover your cruder, less friendly persona online. Maybe a debate over holiday lore becomes a battle front.

Endless Thread producers Grace Tatter and Frannie Monahan bring two stories to remind us that the internet is a morass of information that no one can ever control.

Show notes:
<ul>
 	<li>"<a href="https://www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org/the-villain-of-el-cerrito-nextdoor/">How I became the villain of El Cerrito’s Nextdoor</a>" (Oakland Review of Books)</li>
 	<li><a href="https://bomellida.github.io/faq">Bomellida FAQ</a> (GitHub)</li>
</ul>
This content was originally created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.

The internet is the great connector. Talk with nearly anyone at any time about anything. But that kind of freedom can lead to misunderstandings. Maybe your neighbors discover your cruder, less friendly persona online. Maybe a debate over holiday lore becomes a battle front. Endless Thread producers Grace Tatter and Frannie Monahan bring two stories to remind us that the internet is a morass of information that no one can ever control. Show notes: "How I became the villain of El Cerrito’s Nextdoor" (Oakland Review of Books) Bomellida FAQ (GitHub) This content was originally created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.

The internet is the great connector. Talk with nearly anyone at any time about anything. But that kind of freedom can lead to misunderstandings. Maybe your neighbors discover your cruder, less friendly persona online. Maybe a debate over holiday lore becomes a battle front.

Endless Thread producers Grace Tatter and Frannie Monahan bring two stories to remind us that the internet is a morass of information that no one can ever control.

Show notes:
<ul>
 	<li>"<a href="https://www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org/the-villain-of-el-cerrito-nextdoor/" rel="noopener noreferrer">How I became the villain of El Cerrito’s Nextdoor</a>" (Oakland Review of Books)</li>
 	<li><a href="https://bomellida.github.io/faq" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bomellida FAQ</a> (GitHub)</li>
</ul>
This content was originally created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.

Mixed signals: Nextdoor villains and the holiday you've never heard of

Ben can make a roaring, rumbling sound with his ears that no one else can hear. He never thought much about it — whether only he could do this, or whether everyone could do this — until he discovered a subreddit called Ear Rumblers Assemble: a whole community devoted to the mysterious and understudied ability to voluntarily tense one of the miniscule muscles in our ears. 

We go into Ben's ear with Dr. Anand Devaiah, and raise questions about how everyone experiences the world differently and the enduring mysteries of the human body.

 

Show notes:
<ul>
 	<li>r/earrumblersassemble (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/earrumblersassemble/top/?screen_view_count=10&t=month">Reddit</a>)</li>
 	<li>Thanks to Reddit, a New Diagnosis Is Bubbling Up Across the Nation (<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/cannot-burp-belch-syndrome-botox-esophagus-injection/">KFF Health News</a>)</li>
</ul>
This episode was produced by Grace Tatter and edited by Dave Shaw. It was co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.

Ben can make a roaring, rumbling sound with his ears that no one else can hear. He never thought much about it — whether only he could do this, or whether everyone could do this — until he discovered a subreddit called Ear Rumblers Assemble: a whole community devoted to the mysterious and understudied ability to voluntarily tense one of the miniscule muscles in our ears. We go into Ben's ear with Dr. Anand Devaiah, and raise questions about how everyone experiences the world differently and the enduring mysteries of the human body. Show notes: r/earrumblersassemble (Reddit) Thanks to Reddit, a New Diagnosis Is Bubbling Up Across the Nation (KFF Health News) This episode was produced by Grace Tatter and edited by Dave Shaw. It was co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.

Ben can make a roaring, rumbling sound with his ears that no one else can hear. He never thought much about it — whether only he could do this, or whether everyone could do this — until he discovered a subreddit called Ear Rumblers Assemble: a whole community devoted to the mysterious and understudied ability to voluntarily tense one of the miniscule muscles in our ears.&nbsp;

We go into Ben's ear with Dr. Anand Devaiah, and raise questions about how everyone experiences the world differently and the enduring mysteries of the human body.

&nbsp;

Show notes:
<ul>
 	<li>r/earrumblersassemble (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/earrumblersassemble/top/?screen_view_count=10&amp;t=month" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reddit</a>)</li>
 	<li>Thanks to Reddit, a New Diagnosis Is Bubbling Up Across the Nation (<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/cannot-burp-belch-syndrome-botox-esophagus-injection/" rel="noopener noreferrer">KFF Health News</a>)</li>
</ul>
This episode was produced by Grace Tatter and edited by Dave Shaw. It was co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.

&nbsp;

Ear rumblers assemble!

<div data-xpm-math-type="inline">Get out your graphing calculators, because today's episode of Endless Thread is about a math problem.</div>
<div data-xpm-math-type="inline"></div>
<div data-xpm-math-type="inline">Specifically: wt(π1, . . . , πm) = m−1 ∑ i=1 wt(πi , πi+1)</div>
<div data-xpm-math-type="inline"></div>
<div data-xpm-math-type="inline">Now, pencils down. Stumped? So were mathematicians for decades. That is, until the equation was solved in a thread on 4Chan about watching the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. </div>
<div data-xpm-math-type="inline"></div>
Show notes:
<ul>
 	<li><a href="https://oeis.org/A180632/a180632.pdf">A lower bound on the length of the shortest superpattern</a> (oeis.org)</li>
 	<li><a href="https://umami-insider.com/blogs/blog/sa-shi-su-se-so-the-secret-of-japanese-cooking-basics?srsltid=AU7gw4U19vvbOr8z4JA9-HpzFFQMakaYmykzE2lL-C0Ot5lqBhqpEasM">Sa-Shi-Su-Se-So: The Secret of Japanese Cooking Basics</a> (Umami Insider)</li>
</ul>
This content was originally created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.

Get out your graphing calculators, because today's episode of Endless Thread is about a math problem. Specifically: wt(π1, . . . , πm) = m−1 ∑ i=1 wt(πi , πi+1) Now, pencils down. Stumped? So were mathematicians for decades. That is, until the equation was solved in a thread on 4Chan about watching the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Show notes: A lower bound on the length of the shortest superpattern (oeis.org) Sa-Shi-Su-Se-So: The Secret of Japanese Cooking Basics (Umami Insider) This content was originally created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.

Get out your graphing calculators, because today's episode of Endless Thread is about a math problem.

Specifically: wt(π1, . . . , πm) = m−1 ∑ i=1 wt(πi , πi+1)

Now, pencils down. Stumped? So were mathematicians for decades. That is, until the equation was solved in a thread on 4Chan about watching the anime&nbsp;The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.&nbsp;

Show notes:
<ul>
 	<li><a href="https://oeis.org/A180632/a180632.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer">A lower bound on the length of the shortest superpattern</a> (oeis.org)</li>
 	<li><a href="https://umami-insider.com/blogs/blog/sa-shi-su-se-so-the-secret-of-japanese-cooking-basics?srsltid=AU7gw4U19vvbOr8z4JA9-HpzFFQMakaYmykzE2lL-C0Ot5lqBhqpEasM" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sa-Shi-Su-Se-So: The Secret of Japanese Cooking Basics</a> (Umami Insider)</li>
</ul>
This content was originally created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.

The Haruhi problem

When there was chaos in his life, Shane Correia had one constant: his folder.

Shane’s story involves a grisly crime, Jehovah’s Witnesses, abuse, a locked door in his face — and escape.

In this episode, we bring you the story of a man whose tenacity and hard work — and yes, his folder — got him out of chaos, and into some kind of normalcy.

When there was chaos in his life, Shane Correia had one constant: his folder. Shane’s story involves a grisly crime, Jehovah’s Witnesses, abuse, a locked door in his face — and escape. In this episode, we bring you the story of a man whose tenacity and hard work — and yes, his folder — got him out of chaos, and into some kind of normalcy.

Getting Home

When there was chaos in his life, Shane Correia had one constant -- his folder.

In the first episode of Endless Thread, we bring you two stories of two incredible near-misses.

In the first episode of Endless Thread, we bring you two stories of two incredible near-misses.

No No No No Yes

This audio trailer offers you a preview of the upcoming season of "Endless Thread," a new podcast by WBUR and Reddit.

This audio trailer offers you a preview of the upcoming season of "Endless Thread," a new podcast by WBUR and Reddit.

A First Listen

Untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL. Hosted by Ben Brock Johnson & Amory Sivertson.

Technology

Untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL. Hosted by Ben Brock Johnson &amp; Amory Sivertson.

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