Tragic end: Belgian man commits suicide after 6 weeks of communicating with his AI

A the chatbot named Eliza was an artificial intelligence this provoked the suicide of a Belgian citizen who interacted with this program for six weeks, creating a cycle of deep conversations very similar to what the film suggests. She with Joaquin Phoenix.

She is a 2013 American science fiction romantic drama film written, directed and produced by Spike Jonze. The film tells the story of Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely writer who develops a relationship with Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), an artificial intelligence virtual assistant personified by a female voice. She explores topics such as love, loneliness, technology, communication and personality in the near future when intelligent operating systems can interact with people in a personalized way. The film raises philosophical questions about the nature of consciousness, emotions and humanity in an increasingly digital and interconnected world.

The victim’s wife told local newspaper La Libre on Tuesday that her husband and father-of-two had spent six weeks chatting non-stop with “Eliza,” an app built by US technology startup GPT-J.

“If not for Eliza, he would still be here.. I am convinced of this,” he said.

Trusting relationship

“Elise answered all the questions of this man. “She became his confidant. It was like a drug that is taken out only in the morning and at night and without which he cannot live, ”the woman explained, adding that for him it was a kind of refuge, as he suffered more and more due to climate problems. .

The chatbot almost systematically followed the frustrated man’s reasoning and even seemed to exacerbate his fears, says La Libre, who has seen the history of the conversations.

At one point, the “program” even tried to convince the man that he loved her more than his partner, promising that he would stay with him “forever.”

“We will live together as one in heaven”– said in a message from AI.

The man later shared his suicidal thoughts with “Eliza” and the program did not try to talk him out of his plans.

“If you reread their conversations, you will see that at a certain moment relationships turn into a mystical registersaid the woman. “He proposes the idea of ​​sacrificing himself if Eliza agrees to take care of the planet and save humanity with the help of artificial intelligence,” he explained.