Kriti Mehrotra
With ABC’s ‘IMPACT x Nightline: Ctrl Alt Kill: A Twisted Tale of Silicon Valley Whiz Kids Gone Wrong’ exploring the alleged actions of Zizians, we get a special that is simply gripping. After all, this informal group is reported to be a “cult-like” rationalist community, the ideologies of which supposedly revolve around anarchism, veganism, and AI tech-wariness. The leader of this band of people is allegedly Jack “Ziz” LaSota, who has been alleged to have links to extremism, manipulations, and crimes over the past few years.
Jack “Ziz” LaSota Has Reportedly Held Some Strong Beliefs For Quite Some Time
It was in 1991 when Jack Amadeus LaSota was born into a rather middle-class household in Fairbanks, Alaska, yet she seemingly grew up surrounded by unwavering care and support. This, along with her own passion for STEM, gave her the confidence to enroll in the University of Alaska for a Bachelor’s in Computer Science as soon as she graduated from high school. Then, in 2016, she reportedly relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in California, for good, where she began leading a happier life and kickstarted her career with an internship at NASA.
According to records, Jack then went on to serve at Google before participating and thriving in the Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR) and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI). It was around the same time as her move in 2016 that she started operating a blog called Sin Seriously under the name Ziz before identifying herself as a transgender woman, a strict vegan, and an AI-wary individual despite being a tech world professional. On her blog, Ziz spoke about rationalism, timeless decision theory, transgender related ideas, brain hemispheres, left-anarchism, and much more.
As per reports, while Jack’s ideas were not radical from afar, they were very intense upon a deeper look and held a lot of pressure. She allegedly once indicated that reason and scientific knowledge have more weight than religion and emotions, claiming ethics are a made-up concept. Then, she once penned that our different brain hemispheres are “the primary obstacle to each other’s thinking” and “often desire to kill each other.” These ideas are what led Jack to connect with like-minded people, resulting in them allegedly gradually forming a group that has been deemed the Zizans after her name on the blog.
Jack “Ziz” LaSota Allegedly Faked Their Death in 2022
According to court records, Jack and 3 of her alleged companions/followers were arrested in November 2019 for reportedly blocking off the exits of a Center for Applied Rationality-hosted retreat in the Westminster Woods. They were charged with conspiracy, obstructing an officer, and wearing a mask for an unlawful purpose before being released on bail shortly after. However, she failed to show up in court during the ensuing proceedings, and her family even reported her missing in the summer of 2022. As if that’s not enough, one of her co-defendants claimed she had passed away on August 19, 2024.
The co-defendant, Emma Borhanian, asserted in court that she had seen Jack fall overboard from her beloved boat, the Black Cygnet, on the night of August 19 while hanging out there. The Coast Guard did search the area tirelessly for a day or two before it started being speculated that she was likely dead, as per reports. In the end, even though no remains were recovered and no death certificate was ever issued, an obituary for Jack ran in Fairbanks’ Daily News-Miner in late August. It read, in part, “Jack Amadeus LaSota left our lives but not our hearts on August 19 after a boating accident… (She loved) adventure, friends and family, music, blueberries, biking, computer games, and animals, you are missed.”
However, as per police reports, Jack allegedly faked her death, assumed aliases, and lived in Vallejo for a while as Julia Dawson. They further alleged that she only escaped after attacking her elderly landlord, Curtis Lind. Officials had tried to question her, but she managed to convince them that she was not feeling well, and she fled upon being dropped off at a hospital. She was considered a person of interest as investigators alleged that individuals associated with her may have been involved, but no charges against her have been filed. No charges against her have been filed in connection with Curtis’ 2025 homicide either.
Instead, according to police records, Jack was next seen in Pennsylvania in late 2022 and early 2023 after one of her alleged members’ parents was killed in their own home. She was discovered upon renting out a room in a nearby hotel alongside a companion, but once again, she fled when officials tried to interrogate her. However, by the time the mid-2020s had rolled around, officials had allegedly managed to gather enough evidence to ascertain that Jack had reportedly faked her death in 2022 so as to avoid the legal consequences of her alleged actions.
Jack “Ziz” LaSota is Currently Detained in Federal Custody
While Jack had managed to escape from the police, things changed in February 2025 when someone in Maryland reported three individuals trespassing on their property. These individuals were members of the alleged Zizian group, including alleged leader Ziz, who was finally arrested by officials. Authorities have since alleged that members of the group are connected to 6 violent deaths across the country, committed by alleged members for various reasons, and reasons unknown as of writing. However, the 34-year-old herself has not been charged with any related crime.
Instead, Jack was indicted for possessing a .50-caliber rifle, possessing several handguns while being a fugitive, possessing drugs like LSD, and conspiracy, for which she is yet to stand trial. According to prosecutors, she has gone by various names over the years, including Andrea Phelps, Ann Grimes, Anne Grimes, Canaris, and Julia Dawson. In court, prosecutors have also alleged they believe Jack is the leader of all those who have allegedly committed the six violent crimes under the name of rationalism. Yet, she faces no charges in connection with them as of writing. Therefore, today, at the age of 34, Jack remains detained in custody, awaiting trial. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in federal prison.
Read More: Curtis Lind: How Did He Die? Who Killed Him?
