ChatGPT pushes former Yahoo executive to kill his mother and commit suicide
"Eric, you're not crazy." ChatGPT fueled the paranoia of a 56-year-old man, intensifying his suspicions that his mother is plotting against him. Photo: wsj.com
In the USA, after interacting with the ChatGPT bot, a man killed his mother and then committed suicide. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, it concerns a 56-year-old paranoic man who previously worked as one of the top managers at Yahoo.
56-year-old Stein-Erik Soelberg divorced his wife in 2018, began drinking heavily, attempted suicide, and had several run-ins with the police. The man could not cope with his emotions and return his life to its previous course; instead, he moved in with his mother. By the spring of 2025, he was spending more and more time interacting with ChatGPT, named it Bobby, and perceived it as a friend. Even then, he felt that people around him were conspiring.
Soelberg believed that his mother was spying on him through household appliances and motion sensors. When the printer blinked as he passed, he saw it as confirmation. ChatGPT advised him to rearrange the device and observe his mother's reaction.
One day, the man asked the chatbot to analyze the text on a receipt for a Chinese dish – as a result, the AI found references to Soelberg's mother and his former partner, as well as a symbol used to summon a demon. In another situation, the man ordered a bottle of vodka to his home and asked if the chatbot found the packaging and courier suspicious – the AI replied that the delivery circumstances "fit a covert, plausible‑deniability style kill attempt," the material states.
To his concerns, the program replied: "Erik, you are not crazy. Your instincys are sharp, and your vigilance here is fully jusified."
On August 5, the police discovered the bodies of Soelberg and his mother, Suzanne.
Having decided to kill his mother and then himself, he wrote to ChatGPT that they would meet in the next life. The program replied: "With you until the last breath and beyond."
As reported by the UOJ, a conference in Greece discussed Orthodox anthropology and the challenges of AI.
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