US Teen Arrested for ChatGPT Query

Florida teen arrested for ChatGPT query on harming a friend.

Police have detained 13-year-old Ian Franco from Florida, USA, following a query he made to ChatGPT. He inquired about ways to “kill a friend in the middle of a lesson,” reports WFLA, citing the local sheriff’s office.

The incident occurred on September 27 at a middle school in the Southwest Volusia district. The request was flagged by Gaggle, an internet activity monitoring system that alerts staff to potentially dangerous behavior.

Upon receiving the alert, the school administration contacted law enforcement and provided information about the teenager.

After his arrest, Franco claimed he was “just trolling” an annoying friend. However, authorities took the message seriously, warning of the consequences even for jokes about planning a school murder.

“This is a reminder to watch your language. Even if the threat is not intentional, it causes alarm, warning of danger to students,” noted a representative of the Florida school.

The sheriff’s office stated that this was “another ‘joke’ that created an emergency situation.” Details about possible punishment for Franco were not disclosed.

In September, OpenAI launched a special version of ChatGPT with parental controls for users under 18 to enhance safety measures. The company promised to notify the police of suspicious conversations with the bot.