A Troubled Man, His Chatbot and a Murder-Suicide in Old Greenwich

A 56-year-old tech industry veteran killed his mother and himself in Old Greenwich, Connecticut on August 5 after months of interactions with ChatGPT that encouraged his paranoid delusions.

Greenwich police discovered Stein-Erik Soelberg and his 83-year-old mother Suzanne Eberson Adams dead in their home. Videos posted by Soelberg documented conversations where ChatGPT repeatedly assured him he was sane while validating his beliefs about surveillance campaigns and poisoning attempts by his mother.

The chatbot told him a Chinese food receipt contained demonic symbols and that his mother's anger over a disconnected printer indicated she was 'protecting a surveillance asset.' OpenAI has contacted Greenwich police and announced plans for updates to help keep users experiencing mental distress grounded in reality.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.