If you ask ChatGPT “Is there a Seahorse Emoji?” it might go completely insane. This provides a window into how large language models like ChatGPT actually work.  

To learn more about LLMs, you can watch this video from 3blue1Brown: :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjZofJX0v4M 

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Sources:

BBC: OpenAI claims GPT-5 model boosts ChatGPT to 'PhD level' - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5prvgw0r1o 

Futurism: ChatGPT Goes Completely Haywire If You Ask It to Show You a Seahorse Emoji - https://futurism.com/chatgpt-haywire-seahorse-emoji 

BBC: AI firm Anthropic agrees to pay authors $1.5bn to settle piracy lawsuit - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y4jpg922qo 

CNBC: New York Times sues Microsoft, ChatGPT maker OpenAI over copyright infringement - https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/27/new-york-times-sues-microsoft-chatgpt-maker-openai-over-copyright-infringement.html 

Business Insider: ChatGPT came up with a 'Game of Thrones' sequel idea. Now, a judge is letting George RR Martin sue for copyright infringement. - https://www.businessinsider.com/open-ai-chatgpt-microsoft-copyright-infringement-lawsuit-authors-rr-martin-2025-10 

Unicode Emoji List: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emojis 

Seahorse Emoji Reddit Posts:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/comments/177ps0x/missing_emojis/
https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/comments/1g08o8u/seahorse_emoji/ 
https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/comments/1frwkxs/i_know_for_a_fact_there_was_a_seahorse_emoji/ 
https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/comments/qbvbrm/anyone_else_remember_the_seahorse_emoji/ 

Rova: Was there ever really a seahorse emoji? TikTok swears it existed - so we investigated - https://www.rova.nz/articles/was-there-ever-really-a-seahorse-emoji-tiktok-swears-it-existed-so-we-investigated 

Wikipedia: Mandela Effect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory#Mandela_effect

Siliconversations

ChatGPT enters an infinite loop when asked about the seahorse emoji because it predicts one should exist but cannot produce it. As a next-word predictor, the model gets stuck repeatedly trying to correct itself. The issue likely stems from Reddit posts in its training data where people falsely remember a seahorse emoji existing (Mandela effect), creating a contradiction between what the model expects to exist and what it can actually output.

Why Does The Seahorse Emoji Drive ChatGPT Insane?

This makes sense and I think the theory here is largely correct, but the bigger issue that it brings up is that issues arise when models aren’t provided context of their training data. If the theory here is true, and the emoji crashout is being fueled by reddit posts, it could have VERY easily been avoided by providing the model with the context that these posts come from r/mandelaeffect, a forum that is literally for the discussion of mass false memory.
Context is important, and I think that when we create models with that understanding they will be more powerful, and reliable.

cuz it’s not a dinosaur but kinda looks like

🦐? - hey, at least it has a similar shape!