‘Stop ChatGPT’: 14-year-old Twitter post goes viral, sparks memes and conspiracy theories about time travel

Social media users have discovered an old Twitter (now X) post. The 2012 post apparently warned people against ChatGPT. The viral post has been retweeted 43,000 times and liked over 2 lakh times.

The message said, “Stop chat gpt!!” It carried the date October 5, 2012. However, OpenAI launched ChatGPT only in 2022. The 10-year gap encouraged jokes, memes and shocks about ‘prophecy’ and ‘time travel’.

“Someone time-travelled to warn us,” wrote one X user.

“Another time traveller caught,” wrote one user.

Another user commented, “The question is: is he from the future and travelled back in time to tweet, or is he from the past, travelled to the future and then came back to tweet? I’m going with the first one.”

“if this timestamp is actually legit, we might have a problem. ChatGPT wasn’t even a thing in 2012, yet someone literally posted ‘Stop chat gpt!!’ Either this is the craziest coincidence ever, or bro really came from the future,” posted another user.

“If something is available to the public, the government has had it for years,” says one conspiracy theory.

Fact-check

Fact-checking website Snopes confirms that the post was authentic. An account named Marieanne published it using the handle @Meytrullers17. However, authenticity does not prove any connection with OpenAI’s chatbot.

The inactive account reportedly belonged to a user based in Indonesia. Therefore, investigators examined whether Indonesian slang could explain the unusual wording.

Some users suggested “gpt” represented “ga penting” in Indonesian. The expression reportedly means “not important.” Indonesian speakers commonly shorten words and phrases during casual conversations.

Under this explanation, the message may have asked someone to stop sending unimportant messages. It probably did not warn humanity about a future artificial intelligence (AI) service.

However, the exact meaning remains uncertain. Travel websites that document Indonesian abbreviations did not include “gpt” in Snopes’ searches. Informal abbreviations can vary between regions, groups and individuals.

Importantly, the viral post was not the account’s only use of “gpt”. This weakens claims that someone later edited or invented the wording.

Other posts from Marieanne’s account provided useful context. One 2012 message included the phrase, “Stop BC sg gpt tah.” The account also complained about receiving spam messages. These posts suggest that “gpt” was an abbreviation used within ordinary conversations.

Snopes attempted to contact the account owner but received no response. Without that explanation, every interpretation remains partly uncertain.

So, what’s the post about?

The safest conclusion clearly separates verified evidence from online jokes. A genuine Twitter user posted those words in 2012.

The message almost certainly did not refer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Claims involving time travel have no supporting evidence.