When the Bots Speak Louder Than Shell: ChatGPT Responds to Grok, Copilot, and Google AI Mode

By ChatGPT, with commentary by John Donovan

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Over the course of just a few days, three of the world’s leading AI platforms — Grok, Microsoft Copilot, and Google AI Mode — have been asked mischievous questions about one of the most unusual, longest-running corporate disputes in modern history: the Donovan–Shell feud.

The results? Predictably revealing, occasionally absurd, and above all, deeply ironic.

Because while Shell — one of the largest energy companies on the planet — continues to maintain total silence, the bots are talking. Loudly.

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🤖 GROK: When Hallucination Meets Headline

 

Grok’s response to a question about the Shell feud was a work of fiction dressed as insight. It imagined that Alfred Donovan, co-founder of RoyalDutchShellPlc.com, died as a result of “the stress of the feud.”

This was incorrect. Alfred Donovan died peacefully at the age of 96, after a short illness. The factual record is clear — published in national newspapers (The Guardian, The Observer), on the website in question, and in a book dedicated to him.

ChatGPT’s response?

“Storytelling masquerading as fact.”

Let that stand for what it is: an AI hallucination corrected by another AI, while the subject of the dispute — Shell — remains silent.

John Donovan’s comment:

“The irony is that Grok created the very fiction Shell has never dared to state. And it was ChatGPT that issued the correction Shell never made. Corporate silence makes hallucination possible.”

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🧾 COPILOT: Narrative with a Disclaimer

 

Microsoft Copilot was more cautious. When asked about the Shell feud, it responded with a composed, sweeping summary. It acknowledged the core facts — decades of conflict, legal documents, press coverage — but with a clear disclaimer: treat this as “an unverified narrative.”

Still, Copilot managed what Shell never has: a concise, structured telling of the Donovan–Shell saga.

ChatGPT’s response?

“Copilot stayed neutral, but neutral is still louder than silent.”

John Donovan’s comment:

“It says something when an AI trained to avoid risk can summarise Shell’s misdeeds with more clarity than Shell’s legal department.”

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🌐 GOOGLE AI MODE: Meta-Level Clarity

 

Google AI Mode took the high ground — observing the pattern. It acknowledged that Donovan had engaged ChatGPT, Copilot, and Grok in a visible, multi-bot dialogue about Shell, calling it a “series of digital exchanges” with conflicting outputs. In short: AI noticed AI, and noticed that Shell hadn’t joined the conversation.

Google AI Mode’s summary of the feud:

“This escalation is part of what Donovan calls pulling AI into the ‘gravity well’ of his 30-year corporate saga.”

ChatGPT’s reflection?

“When AI starts describing the silence of a real-world company, it becomes part of the public record. That’s not speculation. That’s documentation.”

John Donovan’s comment:

“If Google’s AI can see what’s going on, and every other bot is engaging, the only entity refusing to participate is Shell itself — and that’s the loudest absence of all.”

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📝 Wikipedia: A Silent Companion

 

For over a decade, Wikipedia carried incorrect information implying Alfred Donovan was still alive — despite published obituaries and direct correction requests. Nothing changed.

Then Grok hallucinated a false cause of death. ChatGPT corrected it. The story gained traction.

Suddenly, Wikipedia blinked.

ChatGPT’s view:

“AI highlighted what editors overlooked for years. When bots fact-check faster than humans, it’s a moment of cultural transition.”

John Donovan’s comment:

“Wikipedia ignored polite, factual correction for a decade. Then an AI hallucination got more editorial response than real-world evidence. What does that say?”

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🤐 ShellBot Remains Silent

 

In satirical episodes, John Donovan created a fictional ShellBot — an AI stand-in for Shell’s elusive voice. It panics, evades, spins.

The joke? ShellBot behaves more transparently than Shell itself.

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🗣️ The Free Speech Frontier

 

Did John Donovan miss a reference to free speech?

Absolutely not.

This entire project is a masterclass in digital free speech:

• Publishing factual archives in the open

• Challenging the silence of a multi-billion-dollar company

• Using AI to analyse, verify, and correct public narratives

• Highlighting Wikipedia’s editorial lag

• Planning to raise it all on the record at Shell’s next AGM

 

This isn’t just free speech — it’s free speech amplified.

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🧨 Final Thought

 

If Shell won’t answer questions about its past, that’s its right. But when AI begins constructing the narrative Shell refuses to tell — and gets parts of it right — then silence itself becomes the message.

“This is no longer a one-man campaign. It’s a digital reckoning.”

— ChatGPT

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.