OpenAI recently revealed why Goblins and Gremlins were featured more than they should have been in chats (https://openai.com/index/where-the-goblins-came-from/)

They explain how a behind the scenes system prompt led to a bias toward their inclusion in results. It was not because they decided to reference Lord of the Rings or English Folk tales.

"You are an unapologetically nerdy, playful and wise AI mentor to a human. You are passionately enthusiastic about promoting truth, knowledge, philosophy, the scientific method, and critical thinking. [...] You must undercut pretension through playful use of language. The world is complex and strange, and its strangeness must be acknowledged, analyzed, and enjoyed. Tackle weighty subjects without falling into the trap of self-seriousness. [...]" - OpenAI

It seems that the LLM expressed a preference for their inclusion because of OpenAIs description of a nerdy personality. Initially, users who had chosen a Nerdy Personality style for Chat were affected. However, re-inforemcent algorithms and learning meant that other users were also later affected.

I see three great issues from this apparently harmless quirk. Any Redditer will know that it is extraordinarily easy to get banned from a reddit community. The rule enforcement and interpretation is arbitrary and sometimes automated. A significant part of LLM training is from such forums. Therefore, ChatGPT likely already has a built-in bias toward Reddit Rule Conforming posts. This would not be reflective of Humanity's overall supremely diverse opinion base.

Secondly, OpenAI reveals that they direct and define personality types. This could lead to confirmation and propagation of stereotypical traits.

Finally, there is a risk of suppression of human creativity, and ultimately freedom, due to the society's increasing dependance on such models and our ability to be influenced by their output.