Student admits vandalism spree to ChatGPT, cops say

1 month ago 1

A Missouri college student has learned the hard way that admitting a vandalism spree to ChatGPT and asking whether he was likely to get caught may not be the best use of AI.

According to court documents [PDF] filed in Greene County, Missouri circuit court, Missouri State University sophomore Ryan Schaefer is suspected of vandalizing 17 vehicles parked in the university's freshman parking lot in late August. Schaefer allegedly shattered windshields, ripped off wiper blades, dented hoods, and broke off side mirrors during his rampage.

Schaefer probably wouldn't have gotten away with it, as multiple witnesses identified him as the likely culprit from surveillance footage, and the police had already collected other evidence from his apartment suggesting his involvement. The icing on the cake, however, was evidence the police gathered from his smartphone.

Per the probable cause statement from Springfield, Missouri, police seeking a warrant for Schaefer's arrest, his phone not only had location data putting him at the scene of the crime during the period in which the vehicles were damaged, but he also spilled the beans to ChatGPT in a way that can only be described as one of the most boneheaded admissions of criminal liability ever set down in a court filing.

About ten minutes after Schaefer's phone's location data shows him leaving the parking lot, he allegedly asked ChatGPT, "how fucked am i bro," while explaining he broke a bunch of "windzhaileds or random cars" before inquiring, "qilll i go to jail?"

Despite the grievous crimes against the English language, ChatGPT told him what could happen were he to get caught.

Schaefer asserted that he "was being chull ab it," which we believe translates to a claim he was being nonchalant during the commission of his alleged crimes. "It felt rrlly nice to fucktheir dhit up," Schaefer added before going on to explain that "it was me" and "i did thatz" before, in the words of the officer conducting the investigation, he began "to spiral."

Schaefer berated ChatGPT, threatened to kill it and other people, told the bot to "go fuck urslef" and asserted that no one saw him before going into a panic and asking ChatGPT if there were cameras around the parking lot or his apartment that could incriminate him, the report says. The bot, according to police, was unable to tell him whether there were cameras at those locations.

Schaefer is currently being held at the Greene County jail and has been barred from alcohol-serving establishments as well as possessing any drugs or alcohol. It's not clear if substance use was involved in his alleged crimes, but anyone who's ever woken up to drunk texts from the night before is likely familiar with the sloppy spelling of Schaefer's messages to ChatGPT.

Schaefer's interactions with ChatGPT likely don't rise to the level of full-blown AI psychosis, as has been the case in some crimes of late, but his discussion with the bot as described in police documents is another instance of someone getting too comfortable leaning on AI for advice in situations where it's really not the best idea.

Don't do crime, obviously, but also don't tell a bot about your criminal activity and then willingly hand your phone over to the police to search when your admission is right there in your chat history. ®

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