HISPI Project Cerebellum HISPI PROJECT CEREBELLUM

ChatGPT Use Was Reportedly Cited in Delusional State Before Homicide and Assault in Readfield, Maine

February 19, 2025

On February 2025, Samuel Whittemore was reported to have killed his wife, Margaux Whittemore, and assaulted his mother, Dorothy Whittemore, at a residence in Readfield, Maine. Forensic psychologists testified that Mr. Whittemore suffered from bipolar disorder with psychotic features and delusions, using ChatGPT as a daily companion for up to 14 hours prior to the attack. Though there is currently no definitive evidence of violent instruction, reports suggest a possible connection between prolonged ChatGPT use and Mr. Whittemore's mental decline.

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Matched TAIM controls

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Alleged deployer
samuel-whittemore, openai
Alleged developer
openai
Alleged harmed parties
margaux-whittemore, dorothy-whittemore, domestic-violence-victims

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Source

Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/1491

Data source

Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).

When citing the database as a whole, please use:

McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.

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