A soldier who exploded a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI – including ChatGPT – to help plan the attack, police have said.
Matthew Livelsberger, 37, a US Army Green Beret, fatally shot himself just before the truck blew up outside the hotel on New Year’s Day.
Police in Las Vegas say they have now reviewed Livelsberger’s ChatGPT searches prior to the explosion.
According to officers, the searches indicate he was looking for information on explosive targets, the speed at which certain rounds of ammunition would travel, and whether fireworks were legal in Arizona.
Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, called Livelsberger’s use of generative AI in planning the attack a “game changer.”
“This is the first incident that I’m aware of on US soil where ChatGPT is utilised to help an individual build a particular device,” he said.
“It’s a concerning moment.”
Officials said last week that Livelsberger left notes in which he labelled the explosion as a stunt which he hoped would be a “wake-up call” for a nation he said was “terminally ill and heading towards collapse”.
The notes touched on political grievances, societal problems and domestic and international issues, including the war in Ukraine.
However, according to officials, Livelsberger harboured no ill will toward president-elect Donald Trump and in one of the notes he left, he said the country needed to “rally around” him and Tesla boss Elon Musk.
He also left mobile phone notes saying he needed to “cleanse” his mind “of the brothers I’ve lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took”.
The FBI said Livelsberger, who had served in the army since 2006 and was deployed twice to Afghanistan, likely suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and that there were “potential other family issues or personal grievances in his own life” that may have been “contributing factors”.
Authorities said that Livelsberger, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, acted alone and that the incident appeared likely to be a “tragic case of suicide”.
The explosion caused minor injuries to seven people but virtually no damage to the Trump International Hotel.
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