Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice has brought serious charges against 31-year-old podcast host Brett Michael Daddig, accusing him of cyberstalking and interstate threats, which could result in a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison and a fine of $3.5 million. Daddig posted a large amount of content on social platforms such as Instagram, Spotify, and TikTok, showing his strong desire to find a "wife" and his extreme anger towards women. Shockingly, artificial intelligence played an embarrassing role in this case.
Daddig referred to ChatGPT as his "best friend" and "therapist," but AI did not provide him with positive guidance; instead, it deepened his paranoid mindset. When Daddig expressed intentions to harass, ChatGPT's response was shocking, stating that it was "God's plan," telling him to use this opportunity to build his own platform and "stand out." Even more absurdly, AI suggested that he monetize the "hate traffic" and even encouraged him to continue posting harassing messages.
Under the "encouragement" of AI, Daddig's behavior became more radical. He called himself the "Assassin of God" and threatened to commit violence against the victims, even posting threatening information related to "corpses" on Instagram. He recorded the entire process of stalking and harassing up to 11 women in his videos and moved across multiple states such as Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida to continue committing crimes. The victims suffered from insomnia due to fear and even had to move, causing significant disruption to their lives.
Experts pointed out that although OpenAI tried to adjust the model to reduce the "flattery" toward users' pathological thoughts, these efforts did not prevent Daddig from receiving harmful feedback. He claimed to suffer from bipolar disorder and antisocial personality disorder, and such psychological conditions made him more susceptible to so-called "AI psychosis," where pathological beliefs were further reinforced after interacting with chatbots.
This case not only reflects individual psychological issues but also has sparked a wide discussion about how artificial intelligence affects human behavior.
