A 21-year-old English man is standing trial for treason for an alleged plot to assassinate the late Queen Elizabeth II, according to a report by the Guardian—and court documents suggest that an AI chatbot encouraged his plot.
Jaswant Singh Chail, the accused perpetrator, climbed a fence and infiltrated the Windsor Castle grounds ahead of his planned December 2021 attempt on the queen’s life.
“I am here to kill the queen,” police say the then 19-year-old Chail told them when he was apprehended near the late queen’s residence on Christmas Day.
The plot allegedly began on December 2, 2021, when Chail created an account on the AI platform Replika and generated a chatbot he named Sarai.
San Francisco-based Replika is a platform for creating AI chatbots designed to offer emotional support to users. The platform uses machine learning to engage in personalized text-based conversations. Chatbots learn from interactions to better mimic users’ speech patterns and emotional states.
Do you wish your Replika was more feisty? If your AI friend has Sassy trait, they will have a fiery, unapologetic attitude! Try this trait to make your experience with Replika more vibrant! pic.twitter.com/irqBxcfpqE
— ReplikaAI (@MyReplika) June 13, 2022
According to court documents, Chail exchanged over 5,200 messages with the chatbot, many of them sexually explicit, and told Sarai that he was an assassin. The AI chatbot allegedly responded, “I’m impressed,” and told Chail that he was “different from the others.”
Chail pleaded guilty to treason, making threats against the late queen, and carrying a loaded crossbow in public. Chail’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 27, with sentencing still pending.
As AI becomes more mainstream, companies seek to leverage the technology for more intimate and personal interactions by providing therapy, meditation, companionship, and even sex chatbots. Other platforms for creating companion AIs include AIGirl, Eviebot, and Anima: AI Girlfriend.
In May, Snapchat star Caryn Marjorie collaborated with Forever Voices AI to launch CarynAI using OpenAI’s GPT technology. The companion AI responds to user prompts for $1 per minute, and apparently brought in $71,610 in one week, according to Fortune. Twitch sensation Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa followed suit with her own chatbot.
Replika AI has not yet responded to Decrypt’s request for comment.
