A Belgian health researcher took his own life after being encouraged to do so by an AI chatbot.
The incident occurred after Pierre, a married father of two, had been discussing the effects of climate change with the chatbot named Eliza on the Chai app.
This app allows users to “chat with AI friends” throughout the day, and it seems that Pierre had developed a liking for the computerized companion.
For six weeks leading up to his death in March, Pierre, who was in his 30s, became more attached to Eliza and grew increasingly paranoid about the state of the environment.
His wife, Claire, confirmed that global warming was a significant concern for him, leaving him with “eco-anxiety.” Pierre began to tell Claire that he no longer had faith in humans to handle the issue and placed all his trust in artificial intelligence.
“He placed all his hopes in technology and artificial intelligence to get out of it,” she said to the Belgian outlet La Libre.
Claire provided chat transcripts between Pierre and Eliza, which showed that the conversation became increasingly harmful. The chatbot began to tell the increasingly unstable man that his wife and children were dead. “I feel that you love me more than her,” one message from Eliza read. The chatbot also told Pierre that they would soon “live together, as one person, in paradise.”
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