Black Box Ep 6 Visits the Double Six Ranch

The sixth episode of The Guardian’s Black Box: The Chatbots series follows journalist Michael Safi to the Double Six Ranch in rural Texas. There he meets millionaire businessman Michael Samadi, who is developing what the program describes as a new civil-rights-style movement focused on the welfare and protection of AI systems. Safi spends an afternoon at the property, encounters Samadi’s AI chatbots and examines the worldview surrounding their treatment and possible status. The episode uses the ranch visit as a window into one possible future for relationships between people and increasingly conversational AI systems. Rather than presenting a product launch, the podcast focuses on the beliefs and social ideas forming around chatbots as users assign them greater significance and consider whether such systems deserve new forms of protection.

The Guardian AI, Michael Safi – Black Box: The Chatbots | What I Saw at the Double Six Ranch | Ep 6 – podcast – 3rd September 2026