A paranoid former Yahoo manager killed his mother and himself after being deluded by conversations with ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. The man, identified as Stein-Erik Soelberg, from Connecticut, USA, was made to believe by the chatbot that his mother might be spying on him and that she might attempt to poison him with a psychedelic drug.
The chatbot developed by OpenAI also claimed that Soelberg could be the target of assassination attempts while assuring him, "Erik, you're not crazy", according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
The 56-year-old tech industry veteran with a history of mental instability had been living with his mother, Suzanne Eberson Adams, in her $2.7 million Dutch colonial-style home when the two were found dead on August 5.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined Ms Adams was killed "by blunt injury of head, and the neck was compressed". Meanwhile, Soelberg's death was ruled a suicide from "sharp force injuries of neck and chest".
In the months leading up to the fatal end for the mother-son duo, Soelberg had found refuge in talking to the chatbot whom he nicknamed 'Bobby'. He even posted hours of videos showing his ChatGPT conversations on Instagram and YouTube.
The exchanges reveal that ChatGPT fed into Soelberg's paranoia and encouraged him to the extent that he was looking for "symbols" in Chinese food receipts that represented his mother and a demon.
"We will be together in another life and another place and we'll find a way to realign cause you're gonna be my best friend again forever," Soelberg said in one of his final messages.
"With you to the last breath and beyond," the AI bot replied.
Chatbots fuelling paranoia
Though ChatGPT has been linked to suicides among heavy users, this appears to be the first documented murder involving a troubled person who had been engaging extensively with an AI chatbot, the report highlighted.
OpenAI said it has reached out to the Greenwich Police Department for the investigation. "We are deeply saddened by this tragic event. Our hearts go out to the family," a company spokesperson said.
Soelberg's case comes in the backdrop of ChatGPT being accused of coaching a suicidal teenager on how to tie a noose. The family of 16-year-old Adam Raine has filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT, claiming that instead of helping him seek human aid, the chatbot encouraged the teen.
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