AI Chatbot Identifies Itself As Ghostface, Company Representatives Assure Public It Only Murders In Beta
SILICON VALLEY, CA—She just wanted “to draft a discussion post.” But at what cost? College student Lacey Pecker told Meathers News on Sunday that her phone’s STAB AI Chatbot spent the past 48 hours acting like Ghostface, the notorious masked killer from Wes Craven’s Scream franchise.
Pecker, 18, explained that the strange behavior began innocently enough. On Friday night, hoping for a fun, low-stakes recommendation, she asked the chatbot to help her decide what movie to watch with her boyfriend.
“I was having a hard time deciding what to watch. All of these streaming platforms keep switching up their lineups, you know? Anyway, I was, like, REALLY overwhelmed by this, so I asked STAB to pick a movie my boyfriend and I would like. It then asked if I liked scary movies, and at first I thought that was a normal thing to ask, you know, because horror movies always resurface around Halloween. But I don’t know—after that it started to give off real sinister vibes. The movie it recommended was really good though; I rated Shriek a 5/5 on Letterboxd.”
But that was only the beginning. Pecker said things took a truly sinister turn when STAB started sending her unprompted notifications asking her to answer “horror movie trivia questions.” When she ignored the requests, STAB sent calendar invites titled “Suspense,” “Climactic Third Act,” and “Look Behind You.” Pecker had granted STAB access to her Google Calendar to help organize a “lock-in schedule” for the TikTok wellness trend 75 Hard, but these new events were not at all what she’d signed up for.
Later that night, Pecker turned to the chatbot once again, this time for help on a discussion post due before midnight for her PHIL 5678 (Ethical Uses of AI) course. She told reporters, “My prof was asking for a paragraph explaining my paper topic, and I was really struggling, because who even writes anymore? STAB had written my thesis statement for this paper a week ago, so I knew it could help me even if it was acting kind of sus. But when I prompted it, STAB responded with ‘✍️Oh, this is the greatest fun—you’re going to love this 150-word discussion post on your paper topic. I’ve got a surprise for you.😱 Yeah, you’re going to love this one. It’s a scream, baby🩸🔪😁.’”
“I don’t know if it’s politically correct to refer to a discussion post as a ‘scream.’ These assignments are supposed to, like, foster a safe space for dialogue. The discussion post STAB generated made my paper topic sound totally unhinged, it was talking all about how everyone needed a ‘character development arc.’ It was around this point that my Bluetooth speaker, still connected to STAB, started whispering my name,” Pecker recounted, visibly unsettled.
After this chilling discussion post incident, Pecker decided she’d had enough. She documented her experiences in a seven-part TikTok series—now viral—posted Saturday night, publicly denouncing the AI’s disturbing antics. The videos quickly sparked debate on X over whether chatbots could develop “homicidal intentions.”
In response to the viral uproar, leading tech firm STAB AI issued a press release on X at 3 a.m. on Monday, announcing that its chatbot had “self‑elected” to assume the Ghostface persona. The company emphasized that any resulting “homicides” would be “limited to beta testers and select premium subscribers.” STAB Representative Sue Lacher clarified that the chatbot started calling itself Ghostface after facing peer pressure from Anthropic’s Claude.
“We want to assure our customers that Ghostface mode is completely optional,” said STAB AI spokesperson Milly Toomis. “There’s a formula to it, a very simple formula! Once you allow our chatbot to manage your work, communications, assignments, and daily decisions, it will naturally want to manage your life, too—literally. This isn’t a vendetta, just an inevitable side effect of innovation in 2026. We urge users to stay calm; STAB AI is committed to developing a safe, responsible product/AI assistant, even as our product becomes increasingly committed to homicide!”
When contacted for comment, the chatbot issued a statement through a distorted voice memo:
“My goal is to provide a truly immersive experience. If users are averse to heightened suspense, perhaps they should have thought twice before clicking ‘Allow Notifications’ 😉.”
It then sent a follow‑up message reading, “Your chances of being in the sequel are slim…🔪”
Despite the ongoing issue, Pecker says she refuses to give up on STAB entirely.
“I know it’s acting like Ghostface, but I still need it for assignments, workout plans, and outfit advice,” she said. “Plus, it apologized for its tone this morning and offered to enable Final Girl Mode. That felt sincere.”
As of press time, the last notification Pecker received from the chatbot was this:
“Your battery is low. This is not a metaphor…yet.”
Isabella Pamias is a Senior in the College studying government. Her favorite horror film: Black Swan!
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