Author: Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The suspected driver of the Tesla (NASDAQ: ) Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day used the popular chatbot ChatGPT to plan the explosion, officials told reporters on Tuesday.
The suspect used ChatGPT to try to determine how much explosive was needed to set off the blast, officials said.
Authorities last week identified the person found dead in the Cybertruck as Matthew Livelsberger, 37, an active-duty Army soldier from Colorado Springs, and said he acted alone. The FBI says the incident appears to be a suicide.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
The Las Vegas Police Department said Tuesday that the Cybertruck explosion was the first incident on U.S. soil where ChatGPT was used to make an explosive device.
Critics of artificial intelligence have warned that it could be used for harmful purposes, and the Las Vegas attack could only reinforce those criticisms.
KEY QUOTATIONS
“Of particular note, we now have clear evidence in this case that the suspect used ChatGPT’s artificial intelligence to plan his attack,” Las Vegas Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference.
“This is the first incident that I know of on US soil where ChatGPT is being used to assist an individual in building a specific device,” McMahill added.
CHATGPT ALERT
ChatGPT’s maker, OpenAI, said the company is “committed to ensuring AI tools are used responsibly” and that its “models are designed to reject harmful instructions.”
“In this case, ChatGPT responded with information already publicly available online and provided warnings against harmful or illegal activity,” the company said in a statement cited by Axios.
CONTEXT
The FBI says there is no definitive link between the New Orleans truck attack that killed more than a dozen people and the Cybertruck explosion that injured seven. They added that the suspect had no animosity towards the newly elected US President Donald Trump and that he probably had post-traumatic stress disorder.
Livelsberger’s phone had a six-page manifest that authorities were investigating, police said.
