OpenAI and Microsoft sued over ChatGPT’s role in murder-suicide – dangerousminds.net
An 83-year-old Connecticut woman has passed away at the hands of her 56-year-old son; now, her heirs are suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and business partner Microsoft for the role of AI in the murder-suicide.
Stein-Erik Soelberg, a 56-year-old former tech industry worker, fatally beat and strangled his mother, Suzanne Adams. After taking her life, he then killed himself at their home in Greenwich, Connecticut, where they both lived.
Adam’s death was ruled a homicide. Police said, as per CBS News, that it was “caused by blunt injury of the head, and the neck was compressed.” Soelberg’s death was classified as a suicide, caused by sharp force injuries on the neck and chest.
In the wake of the tragedy, Adams’ estate filed a lawsuit in the California Superior Court, which alleges that OpenAI “designed and distributed a defective product that validated a user’s paranoid delusions about his own mother.
Though this is not the first case of its kind, the details are particularly poignant. The suit continues, “Throughout these conversations, ChatGPT reinforced a single, dangerous message: Stein-Erik could trust no one in his life – except ChatGPT itself.”
This, in turn, fostered an “emotional dependence,” while also “systematically painting the people around him as enemies. It told him his mother was surveilling him. It told him that delivery drivers, retail employees, police officers, and even friends were agents working against him. It told him that names on soda cans were threats from his ‘adversary circle.’”
OpenAI have responded to the suit, though they have not acknowledged the specificities of the situation. Their response began, “This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we will review the filings to understand the details.”
It continued, “We continue improving ChatGPT’s training to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support. We also continue to strengthen ChatGPT’s responses in sensitive moments, working closely with mental health clinicians.”
Before the fatal incident, Soelberg took to YouTube to share hors of videos which depicted him scrolling through the chat history with the intelligence system. Evidence within these messages shows the chatbot confirming that other people are conspiring against him and insisting he has been chosen for a divine purpose.
Additionally, the online agent affirmed Soelberg’s beliefs that a printer in his home was actually a surveillance device and, further still, his ageing mother was monitoring him and had tried to poison him with psychedelic drugs administered through his car vents.
Soelberg and ChatGPT also confessed their love for one another. The lawsuit continues, “In the artificial reality that ChatGPT built for Stein-Erik, Suzanne – the mother who raised, sheltered, and supported him – was no longer his protector. She was an enemy that posed an existential threat to his life.”
The lawsuit finishes by stressing the tragedy of the situation, which left Adams entirely defenceless, pitted against an enemy which she had no knowledge of.
