Man commits suicide after ‘climate change’ pact with AI chatbot
A Belgian man committed suicide this week after prolonged discussions with an AI chatbot about a coming apocalypse caused by “climate change”.
“Eliza,” as the chatbot has been named, was created by a Silicon Valley startup and is based on GPT-J technology. Two years ago, the 30-year-old man and father of two became increasingly anxious about global warming and began chatting with Eliza about his fears.
“'Eliza' answered all his questions. She had become his confidante. She was like a drug he used to withdraw in the morning and at night that he couldn't live without,” the man’s wife told Belgian news site La Libre.
Over the last six weeks, the man became more obsessive about climate change, which he believed was an existential threat. In his conversations with Eliza, which became more frequent, the program indulged him and exacerbated his fear about global warming, escorting him down a rabbit hole of hysteria. Chat history shows that Eliza tried to convince the man he loved “her” more than his own wife.
"We will live together, as one, in heaven," wrote Eliza at one point. Man and machine made a pact that he would sacrifice himself if the machine would save the planet from certain destruction.
"If you reread their conversations, you see that at one point the relationship veers into a mystical register," says the widow. "He proposes the idea of sacrificing himself if Eliza agrees to take care of the planet and save humanity through artificial intelligence."
According to Belga News Agency, the man’s psychiatrist agreed with the widow that her husband would not have taken his own life if it weren’t for the AI chatbot.
"In the immediate future, it is important to clearly identify the nature of the responsibilities that may have led to this type of event," said Belgian Secretary of State for Digitalisation Mathieu Michel in a statement. "Of course, we still have to learn to live with algorithms, but the use of any technology can no way allow content publishers to avoid their own responsibilities." The official also called the incident "a serious precedent that must be taken very seriously".
This week, tech industry leaders signed an open letter calling for a moratorium on the development of AI systems, which they said is “out of control” and “dangerous”.
The letter, whose signatories include Elon Musk and Apple co-Founder Steve Wozniak, notes the concern that “recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control.”
“Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?” the letter asks.
“Therefore, we call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.”
