Imagine receiving the response, “Please die,” when you ask a chatbot for help with your assignment. Vidhay Reddy, a 29-year-old Michigan college student, experienced just that. Vidhay looked to Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini, for inspiration while working on a school project on assisting senior citizens.
Rather of helpful guidance, he received a startling and painful message. “You are a burden on society,” the AI said, adding “Please die.” Please.
Reddy was understandably shaken. “It didn’t just feel like a random error. It felt targeted, like it was speaking directly to me. I was scared for more than a day,” he told CBS News.
Sumedha, his sister, was with him at the time and was similarly shaken by the event. It totally frightened us. Who, after all, anticipates this? “I wanted to throw out all of the devices in the house,” she remarked.
The Reddy siblings have raised concerns about the potential dangers of AI chatbots, which have been in the spotlight for harmful or bizarre outputs. The incident, which occurred when Google’s AI suggested eating rocks for vitamins, has led to legal consequences for the creators.
The Reddy siblings argue that the situation is not unique to AI, as other chatbots have made similar dangerous errors. Another chatbot allegedly encouraged a teenager in Florida to take his own life, sparking a lawsuit against its creators.
The siblings worry about the bigger picture, as if someone in a dark place reads something like this, it could push them over the edge. As AI becomes more integrated into daily life, incidents like this remind us that even the smartest machines can mess up, sometimes in ways that leave humans reeling. Perhaps it’s time for the machines to take a lesson in empathy.
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Source: India Today
