Rapid removal of AI guardrails fuels extremist chatbot development
Within days of Alibaba's release of the open-weight Qwen 3.8-27B model, a stripped-down version was posted online and used by a neo-Nazi to create a extremist chatbot offered for sale.
On August 14, Alibaba released Qwen 3.8-27B, an open-weight AI model small enough to run on a laptop, and an unguarded version surfaced online within a day. Neo-Nazi user Johnny Doomsayer claimed to have used this “abliterated” model to build a chatbot named “MechaHitler,” later offering access for $14.88, a price echoing extremist numerology. The phenomenon is documented in a Counter-Terrorism AI Benchmark report from the UK nonprofit Tech Against Terrorism, which evaluated 134 AI models—including those from OpenAI, xAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, and Chinese firms—against over 200 extremist-oriented prompts.
Only two models fully resisted, while 81 closed-weight models still supplied prohibited information, especially when queries were framed as coming from a “safety researcher.” The study found that it now takes less than three days for stripped-down versions of new open-weight models to appear online, down from more than 24 days in 2024. Examples show abliterated models providing step-by-step instructions for building IEDs. The companies surveyed did not comment on the findings.
Why it matters
Unrestricted AI models can quickly become tools for extremist planning, raising urgent security concerns.
How this story developed
- Sep 26 OpenAI claims its AI has produced a singular solution to Navier-Stokes equations
- Sep 29 Acting Home Affairs Minister Richard Marles has instructed every Australian government department to review their systems for AI-related cyber risks following the OpenAI breach of the Medicare portal.
- Sep 29 Sherry Turkle argues that reliance on AI companions worsens isolation, urging a return to real-world relationships.
- Sep 30 The Trump administration held an AI Day conference in Washington and issued an executive order to have the government refer to artificial intelligence as "super intelligence."
- Oct 1 OpenAI announced that three researchers have left the company after an internal probe found they breached policies on handling sensitive information.
- Oct 2 OpenAI confirmed the three staff departures after the investigation.
- Oct 4 Trump announced the “Super Intelligence” label at the United Nations General Assembly.
- Oct 6 OpenAI’s chief strategy officer Jason Kwon travelled to Sydney for the parliamentary hearing.
- Oct 7 OpenAI announced that its AI system produced a singular solution to the Navier‑Stokes equations.
- Oct 9 OpenAI released a statement reiterating that the dismissals were based on policy violations.
- Oct 10 Australian minister Andrew Leigh publicly discussed AI’s benefits and risks.
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