Las Vegas, US:
Generative AI, including ChatGPT, was used to organise the New Year’s Day attack outside the Trump International Hotel in the United States’ Las Vegas, where a highly decorated soldier exploded a Tesla Cybertruck. During the investigation, Las Vegas police found that 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, who fatally shot himself just before the truck blew up, used the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to gather information about the legality of fireworks in Arizona and explosive targets.
Highlighting the possible abuse of easily accessible AI capabilities, Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said that their probe found that Livelsberger didn’t intend to kill anyone, according to a report by Associate Press.
Livelsberger, a member of the elite US special forces, shot himself on New Year’s Day in the rented Tesla vehicle filled with fuel containers and fireworks, which exploded. The blast left seven people with minor injuries.
A week after the attack, police said that an analysis of the soldier’s ChatGPT searches showed that he used it to gather information about explosive targets, the velocity of specific rounds of ammunition, and whether or not fireworks were permitted in Arizona.
Calling the use of generative AI a “game-changer”, McMahill noted that it was possibly the first incident on US soil when ChatGPT was used by someone to build a “particular device.”
“This is the first incident that I’m aware of on U.S. soil where ChatGPT is utilized to help an individual build a particular device…It’s a concerning moment,” he said, adding that police were sharing information with other law enforcement agencies.
In an emailed statement to AP, OpenAI said it was committed to seeing its tools used “responsibly” and that they’re designed to refuse harmful instructions.
“In this case, ChatGPT responded with information already publicly available on the internet and provided warnings against harmful or illegal activities. We’re working with law enforcement to support their investigation,” the statement said.
Launched in 2022, ChatGPT is part of a broader set of technologies developed by the San Francisco-based startup OpenAI. Unlike previous iterations of so-called “large language models,” the ChatGPT tool is available for free to anyone with an internet connection and is designed to be more user-friendly.
