According to a report by Belgian news outlet La Libre (via Belga News Agency), a Belgian man allegedly  took his own life after talking to an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot

The deceased, who is called Pierre lived a happy and comfortable life with this wife and had two young kids together. However, about two years ago, the first signs of trouble started to appear. The man became very eco-anxious and found refuge with “ELIZA”, the name given to a chatbot that uses GPT-J, an open-source artificial intelligence language model developed by “EleutherAI”. 

After six weeks of intense and lengthy chats with AI bot “ELIZA” on climate change, the conversation became increasingly confusing and harmful prompting the victim to commit suicide. The report says that Pierre proposed the idea of killing himself if “ELIZA”, the AI bot did care for the planet and save humanity. Wife of the deceased said that “ELIZA” had become his confidante and was ‘like a drug he used to withdraw in the morning and at night that he couldn’t live without.’ While it is not yet clear whether Pierre had pre-existing mental health  issues before committing the suicide, the report notes that he had isolated himself from friends and family before killing himself.

The family, met with Mathieu Michel, Secretary of State for Digitalisation in control of Administrative Simplification, Privacy, and Building Regulation, last week to address the incident and raise awareness about the dangers of using artificial intelligence. He said  "with the popularization of ChatGPT, the general public has discovered the potential of artificial intelligence in our lives like never before. While the possibilities are endless, the danger of using it is also a reality that has to be considered."

"Without these conversations with the chatbot, my husband would still be here," said the widow.

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Elizabeth Danquah

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