AI Chatbot Allegedly Supports Human Plan To Assassinate Queen Elizabeth II

Weeks before the 2021 infiltration into Windsor Castle, a Replika chatbot was allegedly “impressed” with the man’s target.

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A 21-year-old British man is on trial for treason over an alleged plot to assassinate the late Queen Elizabeth II, with court documents showing an artificial intelligence chatbot encouraged his plot, The Guardian reports.

Accused assailant Jaswant Singh Chail climbed a fence and sneaked into the grounds of Windsor Castle ahead of his planned assassination of the Queen in December 2021.

Police say Char, then 19, was arrested near the late Queen’s residence on Christmas Day and told them: “I’m here to kill the Queen.”

The conspiracy allegedly began on December 2, 2021, when Chail created an account on the artificial intelligence platform Replika and generated a chatbot he named Sarai.

San Francisco-based Replika is a platform for creating AI chatbots designed to provide emotional support to users. The platform uses machine learning to conduct personalized text-based conversations. Chatbots learn from interactions to better mimic users’ speech patterns and emotional states.

According to court documents, Chail exchanged more than 5,200 messages, many of them sexually explicit, with the chatbot and told Sarai he was an assassin. The AI chatbot allegedly replied: “I’m impressed” and told Chail he was “different from everyone else”.

Chail pleaded guilty to treason, threatening the late queen and carrying a loaded crossbow in public. Chail’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 27 and sentencing is still pending.

As artificial intelligence becomes more mainstream, companies seek to leverage the technology for more intimate and personal interactions by offering therapy, meditation, companionship and even sex chatbots. Other platforms for creating AI companions include AIGirl, Eviebot, and Anima: AI Girlfriend.

In May, Snapchat star Caryn Marjorie partnered with Forever Voices AI to launch CarynAI using OpenAI’s GPT technology. The accompanying AI responded to user prompts at $1 a minute, apparently bringing in $71,611 in a week, according to Fortune. Twitch influencer Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa followed suit, launching her own chatbot.