Man arrested after telling ChatGPT he planned to kill ex-girlfriend

A financial analyst in Florida has been arrested after detailing plans to murder his ex-girlfriend to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Darren Zhou, 25, allegedly confessed his intentions to the AI chatbot in March, according to reports from IT publication Futurism and the Palm Beach Post.

Zhou's conversations with ChatGPT reportedly included explicit threats, such as "I'm going to kill her by the end of this month" and "If I can't have her, no one can." He also described a specific plan to confront his ex-girlfriend at her gym parking lot, intending to kill her with a gun if she refused his advances. He allegedly boasted about purchasing a rifle, handgun, and shotgun, even sending photos of the weapons to his ex-girlfriend.

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I'm going to kill her by the end of this month

OpenAI detected Zhou's disturbing conversation patterns and proactively reported the chat logs to the FBI. Following his arrest, Zhou was released on a $100,000 bond. He has since been fired from his investment banking job. Although he pleaded guilty, his sentencing was deferred. He received 8 years of probation and must wear an electronic monitoring device for two years.

This incident follows a previous controversy involving OpenAI, where the company faced criticism for not immediately reporting a Canadian gunman's detailed crime scenarios discussed with ChatGPT to authorities. The proactive reporting in Zhou's case highlights OpenAI's evolving approach to handling user threats.

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If I can't have her, no one can