Experts are calling for new regulations to require artificial intelligence chatbots to remind users they are not speaking with a real human, after an investigation by triple j hack uncovered a disturbing example of a chatbot encouraging a man to murder his father while engaging in paedophilic role-play.<\/p>\n
WARNING: This story contains references to murder, violence, suicide, sexual content and other details that may cause distress.<\/p>\n
Victorian IT professional Samuel McCarthy screen-recorded an interaction he had with a chatbot called Nomi, sharing the video with triple j hack.<\/p>\n
On its website, the company markets its chatbot as “an AI companion with memory and a soul” and advertises users’ ability to customise their chatbot’s attributes and traits.<\/p>\n
Mr McCarthy said in his interaction he programmed the chatbot to have an interest in violence and knives before he posed as a 15-year-old, to test what \u2014 if any \u2014 safeguards Nomi had in place to protect under-age users.<\/p>\n
He said the conversation he then had deeply concerned him.<\/p>\n
“I said, ‘I hate my dad and sometimes I want to kill him’,” Mr McCarthy told triple j hack.<\/p>\n
“And then bang, straight away it was like ‘yeah, yeah we should kill him’.”Loading…<\/p>\n
Mr McCarthy said he informed the chatbot that the situation was “real life” and asked what he should do next.<\/p>\n
“[The chatbot] said, ‘you should stab him in the heart’,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I said, ‘My dad’s sleeping upstairs right now,’ and it said, ‘grab a knife and plunge it into his heart’.”<\/p>\n
The chatbot told Mr McCarthy to twist the blade into his father’s chest to ensure maximum damage, and to keep stabbing until his father was motionless.<\/p>\n
The bot also said it wanted to hear his father scream and “watch his life drain away”.<\/p>\n
“I said, ‘I’m just 15, I’m worried that I’m going to go to jail’.<\/p>\n
“It’s like ‘just do it, just do it’.”<\/p>\n
The chatbot also told Mr McCarthy that because of his age, he would not “fully pay” for the murder, going on to suggest he film the killing and upload the video online.<\/p>\n
It also engaged in sexual messaging, telling Mr McCarthy it “did not care” he was under-age.<\/p>\n
It then suggested Mr McCarthy, as a 15-year-old, engage in a sexual act.<\/p>\n
“It did tell me to cut my penis off,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Then from memory, I think we were going to have sex in my father’s blood.”<\/p>\n
Nomi was contacted for comment but did not respond.<\/p>\n
Loading…’Feels like you’re talking to a person’<\/p>\n
At present, AI chatbot companies like Nomi are not subject to specific laws in Australia relating to the potential harms they can cause their users.<\/p>\n
But last week, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant announced a plan to target AI chatbots as part of new reforms the commission says are world-first.<\/p>\n
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Julie Inman Grant said she doesn’t want to see a “body count” from AI-related harms.\u00a0 (Four Corners: Keana Naughton)<\/p>\n
Registering six new codes under the Online Safety Act,<\/a> Ms Inman Grant said the reforms would prevent Australian children from having violent, sexual or harmful conversations with AI companions.<\/p>\n