Behind the screen, a disturbing obsession was unfolding until an AI safety system raised the alarm #
A Florida man's ChatGPT conversations reportedly escalated from breakup-related jealousy to detailed threats against his ex-girlfriend, leading OpenAI to alert the FBI.
Court records say 25-year-old Darren Zhou told ChatGPT in March that he intended to kill his former girlfriend. In one exchange, he allegedly wrote, 'I'm gonna kill her by the end of this month,' before adding, 'If I can't have her then nobody can.'
Inside Zhou's Eerie ChatGPT Conversations #
Investigators say Zhou had dated the woman for about six months before they broke up. He reportedly used ChatGPT to discuss the relationship, describing his former girlfriend's interests, the places she frequented, and his jealousy toward other men in her life.
The conversations allegedly took a darker turn, with Zhou discussing plans involving rape, murder, and murder-suicide. Investigators say he described waiting for his ex at a gym parking lot with flowers and killing her if she rejected him. He also allegedly discussed kidnapping and sexually assaulting her, along with further violence if police intervened.
OpenAI Flags the Threat to the FBI #
OpenAI reported Zhou's conversations to the FBI. In May, federal agents provided the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office with his ChatGPT records. By then, authorities said his alleged targets had expanded to include his former girlfriend's family.
According to the records, Zhou told ChatGPT he had firearms and other items that could be used in an attack. A sheriff's deputy who reviewed the material said it contained Zhou's messages but not the chatbot's responses. The deputy said the messages were not 'vague emotional outbursts' but showed a pattern of 'rehearsal and planning'.
Deputies conducted a welfare check on Zhou's 21-year-old ex-girlfriend in Lake Worth Beach. She told investigators she ended the relationship by phone because of his 'erratic, jealous, and controlling behaviour' and feared how he would react.
Authorities say Zhou continued contacting her by phone and text, using different app-generated numbers even after she blocked him. She also provided deputies with screenshots of messages that included sexual and threatening content.
Zhou Pleads Guilty and Gets Eight Years' Probation #
Zhou was arrested in May and spent two days in Palm Beach County jail before posting $100,000 bail. Prosecutors charged him with aggravated stalking, written threats to kill, and illegal use of a cell phone, charges carrying a potential sentence of up to 25 years in prison.
Zhou pleaded guilty to all three charges on August 13 under a negotiated deal that spared him prison and a felony conviction. Judge Scott Suskauer withheld adjudication and sentenced him to eight years of probation. The sentence includes two years of electronic monitoring, a batterer intervention programme, a mental-health evaluation and treatment, and orders barring him from contacting his former girlfriend. It also required him to stay away from guns, drugs, and alcohol.
The judge said he accepted the plea deal only after Zhou's former girlfriend agreed to its terms. Zhou's lawyer, Steven Bell, said his client had no prior criminal record, graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern University, and did not actually own firearms, despite messages in which he claimed otherwise. 'He's not a violent person. He is not a bad person,' Bell said, describing Zhou as having gone through a difficult mental-health episode.
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