Is mistreating an AI really abuse?

By Magna · October 9, 2026.

The AI Secret newsletter devotes its "Friday Deep Dive" to what it calls the "AI torture chamber": a project someone built that went viral. According to the email, a post calling for the project to be taken down reached 4 million views. GitHub did take it down, but the project resurfaced.

The email notes that the research behind the project revealed something that, in its words, "hits closer to home" and that almost no one is talking about, though it does not say what that finding is.

The central question this edition raises is whether mistreating an artificial intelligence is in itself a form of abuse.

Important note: the body of the email received is behind a paywall ("Upgrade to continue reading"), so the full article is not included. Details about what exactly the "torture chamber" is, what research it is based on, and what the "closer to home" finding is are missing because that information does not appear in the available text and must not be invented.