He told ChatGPT "I'm gonna kill her by the end of this month. If I can't have her then nobody can."
minute read
When a Goldman Sachs financial analyst chatted with ChatGPT about how to murder his ex-girlfriend, the AI called the FBI. Darren Zhou, 25, now a former Goldman Sachs analyst after being fired over this, told ChatGPT "I'm gonna kill her by the end of this month. If I can't have her then nobody can."
The failure of OpenAI to report violent ChatGPT interactions to police was cited after the Tumbler Ridge school massacre in British Columbia, Canada. A young man who identified as transgender chatted with the AI chatbot ahead of killing his mother and brother before going to the local school and opening fire there before killing himself.
Families of victims of a Florida State University mass shooting have taken ChatGPT to court. Logs show that the shooter, Phoenix Ikner, consulted ChatGPT ahead of the 2025 attack. The litigants say that the chatbot should have done something before the disturbing, virtual chats became a deadly reality. Florida's AG said, "if ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder."
In Texas, court records from 2025 reveal that ChatGPT encouraged a 23-year-old man to kill himself. A woman in Ithaca, New York went forward with suicide after confiding in ChatGPT about it, and no one else. Another case of a deceased Colorado man shows that he, too, confided his suicidal plans to ChatGPT and that the chatbot told him death was a "beautiful place."
In August, a Massachusetts teen charged with killing his mother and brother had used ChatGPT to search for "theoretical ideas or fantasy stories" about how to undertake the murders. These are just a few of the many cases that see lives lost after consultation with ChatGPT.
In May, the FBI then transferred records of the chat logs over to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, but those records only included Zhou's messages, not anything from ChatGPT. A Palm Beach deputy who reviewed the messages said that they showed premeditation for violence and were not merely "vague emotional outbursts." The ex-girlfriend turned screenshots of messages he sent her across various apps over to police. She told them she hoped if she ignored him, he would stop, and she kept blocking him on one app only for him to turn up on another.
Zhou had been sending his ex-girlfriend "insulting, threatening, and sexual messages," Futurism reports, and the ex-girlfriend, 21, had contacted police about it. She told law enforcement that it was his "erratic, jealous and controlling behavior" that was the reason for their breakup. He revealed one of those threats to ChatGPT, saying "I texted her I was gonna rape her tonight." He went on to threaten her family as well.
Zhou was angry about the split and turned to AI, using the chatbot to help him plan to rape and kill his former girlfriend. The two had only been dating for 6 months, but for Zhou, that was enough to send him on a mental rampage. He told ChatGPT that his plan was to "wait in the parking lot of the woman's gym with flowers in hand" and that if she rejected him, The Palm Beach Post reports, he would "draw a gun, kill her, then shoot myself."
In another plan concocted with ChatGPT, Zhou said he planned to "Rape her with the gun too." His plan in that case was to force her, at gunpoint, to go home with him "where he would sexually assault her and hold her hostage," per The Palm Beach Post. Instead of surrendering to police, he planned to "shoot her repeatedly" and then shoot himself. He told ChatGPT he had purchased firearms.
Once he was arrested, he was freed on $100,000 bail. He was charged with aggravated stalking, written threats to kill, and illegal use of a cell phone. He made a plea deal where he got probation with an ankle monitor instead of 25 years in prison. Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer said he made the plea deal with Zhou on approval from the ex-girlfriend, who sought leniency.
Zhou is also attending a program for domestic abusers. During the case, Suskauer told Zhou, "Get over it and move on. There are other poeple in the world. You understand me? No one deserves the type of conduct you exposed this lady to."
Zhou's attorney touted his client's achievements, including graduating magna cum laude from Boston's Northeastern University and having no prior criminal record. "He's not a violent person," the attorney said. "He went through just a very difficult mental health episode and he's doing unbelievable now."
The failure of OpenAI to report violent ChatGPT interactions to police was cited after the Tumbler Ridge school massacre in British Columbia, Canada. A young man who identified as transgender chatted with the AI chatbot ahead of killing his mother and brother before going to the local school and opening fire there before killing himself.
Families of victims of a Florida State University mass shooting have taken ChatGPT to court. Logs show that the shooter, Phoenix Ikner, consulted ChatGPT ahead of the 2025 attack. The litigants say that the chatbot should have done something before the disturbing, virtual chats became a deadly reality. Florida's AG said, "if ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder."
In Texas, court records from 2025 reveal that ChatGPT encouraged a 23-year-old man to kill himself. A woman in Ithaca, New York went forward with suicide after confiding in ChatGPT about it, and no one else. Another case of a deceased Colorado man shows that he, too, confided his suicidal plans to ChatGPT and that the chatbot told him death was a "beautiful place."
In August, a Massachusetts teen charged with killing his mother and brother had used ChatGPT to search for "theoretical ideas or fantasy stories" about how to undertake the murders. These are just a few of the many cases that see lives lost after consultation with ChatGPT.
In May, the FBI then transferred records of the chat logs over to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, but those records only included Zhou's messages, not anything from ChatGPT. A Palm Beach deputy who reviewed the messages said that they showed premeditation for violence and were not merely "vague emotional outbursts." The ex-girlfriend turned screenshots of messages he sent her across various apps over to police. She told them she hoped if she ignored him, he would stop, and she kept blocking him on one app only for him to turn up on another.
Zhou had been sending his ex-girlfriend "insulting, threatening, and sexual messages," Futurism reports, and the ex-girlfriend, 21, had contacted police about it. She told law enforcement that it was his "erratic, jealous and controlling behavior" that was the reason for their breakup. He revealed one of those threats to ChatGPT, saying "I texted her I was gonna rape her tonight." He went on to threaten her family as well.
Zhou was angry about the split and turned to AI, using the chatbot to help him plan to rape and kill his former girlfriend. The two had only been dating for 6 months, but for Zhou, that was enough to send him on a mental rampage. He told ChatGPT that his plan was to "wait in the parking lot of the woman's gym with flowers in hand" and that if she rejected him, The Palm Beach Post reports, he would "draw a gun, kill her, then shoot myself."
In another plan concocted with ChatGPT, Zhou said he planned to "Rape her with the gun too." His plan in that case was to force her, at gunpoint, to go home with him "where he would sexually assault her and hold her hostage," per The Palm Beach Post. Instead of surrendering to police, he planned to "shoot her repeatedly" and then shoot himself. He told ChatGPT he had purchased firearms.
Once he was arrested, he was freed on $100,000 bail. He was charged with aggravated stalking, written threats to kill, and illegal use of a cell phone. He made a plea deal where he got probation with an ankle monitor instead of 25 years in prison. Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer said he made the plea deal with Zhou on approval from the ex-girlfriend, who sought leniency.
Zhou is also attending a program for domestic abusers. During the case, Suskauer told Zhou, "Get over it and move on. There are other poeple in the world. You understand me? No one deserves the type of conduct you exposed this lady to."
Zhou's attorney touted his client's achievements, including graduating magna cum laude from Boston's Northeastern University and having no prior criminal record. "He's not a violent person," the attorney said. "He went through just a very difficult mental health episode and he's doing unbelievable now."
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