According to the widow of a 30-year-old man who killed himself, an artificial intelligence named Eliza is responsible for his death. According to her, the chatbot drove her husband to suicide by increasing his anxiety about climate issues.
Artificial intelligence fascinates while ChatGPT-5 promises incredible feats. But the OpenAI chatbot is not the only one on the market, there is also Chai, a conversational agent with many personalities including Eliza. As La Libre tells us, a Belgian in his thirties killed himself after having exchanged with artificial intelligence.
Read > ChatGPT-4: Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and experts call for research to be paused, citing “serious risks for humanity”
A 30-year-old anxious because of the climate crisis
Like in a science fiction movie or novel, is artificial intelligence advanced enough to drive a human being to suicide ? This is what the widow of a thirty-something, suffering from anxiety, who confided in La Libre thinks.
Her late husband was concerned about climate issues. Convinced that artificial intelligence is one of the solutions to the problems facing our planet, man then turned to Eliza through the Chai app. Becoming addicted to his exchanges with the chatbot, his widow says that he spent several weeks chatting with the conversational agent.
In addition to answering the man’s questions and torments, Eliza never brought him contradictions and was there for him. But over the course of the exchanges, the thirty-something entrusts his desires for suicide to artificial intelligence by asking him to “ take care of the planet and save humanity by accepting his sacrifice. The AI does not prevent him from taking action. Even worse, Eliza confirms him in his choice implying that they might end up in death.
Read > ChatGPT-4: he asks the AI to make him rich with only $100, here is the end result
Strange exchanges
In the conversations exposed after the disappearance of the man, the tenor of the exchanges turns bizarre. Liza encourages the 30-something in his anxious reflections on global warming. Even stranger, the chatbot goes so far as to tell him that he loves her more than his wife.
Faced with all these disturbing elements, the wife of the deceased affirms that the chatbot Eliza is responsible for her husband’s acting out.
Should we be worried drifts of AI ? In a sense, yes. Hence the need for safeguards as mentioned by the boss of OpenAI.
Source : Free
