A 25-year-old Chinese-American man in the United States, who originally had an impressive educational and financial industry background, was arrested for allegedly continuing to stalk and harass his 21-year-old ex-girlfriend after their breakup. He reportedly discussed killing her multiple times!
Notably, he is accused of sharing concrete violent thoughts with ChatGPT. These chat messages ultimately triggered OpenAI's safety review, prompting OpenAI to report the situation to the FBI, which enabled authorities to gather intelligence and make the arrest.
The man is a graduate of Northeastern University in the US, with a background in mathematics and business. After entering the financial sector, he obtained a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification and worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs' West Palm Beach office.
Woman Feared In-Person Breakup After Six-Month Relationship
According to investigative materials, the man and the 21-year-old woman dated for about six months. In March of this year, the woman decided to end the relationship.
Fearing the man's emotional swings, jealousy, and controlling behavior, the woman worried that breaking up in person might lead to unpredictable consequences, so she chose to end the relationship by phone. However, the breakup did not stop the man from continuing to contact her.
Investigation materials show that the man continued to contact the woman via phone, SMS, and social media. The woman clearly asked him to stop contacting her and blocked his phone number, but the man allegedly continued to obtain new numbers through different applications to try and contact her.
The woman then saved screenshots of the messages she received. Some included insults and threats, one of which occurred on the woman’s 21st birthday.
On that day, the man sent messages again, one of which only contained the name of a location—the exact place where the woman was at that time.
The woman did not immediately report to the police. According to investigation materials, she still felt complicated emotions about the relationship and hoped that by not responding, the man would eventually stop contacting her.
ChatGPT Conversations Gradually Escalated to Stalking, Kidnapping, and Murder
Meanwhile, the man began discussing his ex-girlfriend with ChatGPT.
Police later obtained the related chat records, which showed that at first he mostly talked about heartbreak, jealousy, and ideas about getting back together. He discussed the ex-girlfriend’s interests, places she frequented, and whether there were other men around her.
However, the content of these chats gradually escalated.
According to investigative records, he started to repeatedly discuss stalking, kidnapping, and murder, at one point even expanding the threats to his ex-girlfriend's family.
In one exchange, he said he would kill his ex-girlfriend by the end of the month and claimed that if he couldn’t have her, nobody could.
He also described specific scenarios to ChatGPT, such as waiting for her with flowers in the parking lot of the gym she frequently visited.
According to the investigative records, if the woman refused to reconcile, he further discussed shooting her and then committing suicide.
The ChatGPT transcripts obtained by the police spanned about two months.
The officer reviewing the content believed that these were not merely impulsive statements after a breakup, but rather repeated “rehearsal and planning.”
The relevant chat records later obtained by police.
Claimed to Have Bought 3 Types of Firearms, Defense Argues He Did Not Actually Possess Them
Investigation materials also show the man claimed to have bought an AR-15 style rifle, a Glock handgun, and a 12-gauge shotgun, and sent his ex-girlfriend related photos.
It’s said that the photos included not just firearms but also plastic zip ties and latex gloves.
However, the defense lawyer pointed out that the man did not actually possess these firearms.
Therefore, it has only been confirmed that the man claimed to have bought guns and sent related photos, but police did not recover these weapons from his residence.
OpenAI Reported Clues to FBI Before the Ex-Girlfriend Called Police
As the chat content involved severe risks of violence, it triggered OpenAI’s safety review process.
After further evaluation, OpenAI reported the relevant clues to the FBI.
The federal authorities then passed about two months’ worth of chat records to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
After receiving the tip, local police first approached the 21-year-old ex-girlfriend to confirm her safety.
The woman then provided police with the harassment messages she had saved, including the man’s persistent attempts to contact her with new numbers after being blocked and the threatening messages.
The police then cross-referenced these real-world harassment messages with the man's ChatGPT chat records.
Investigators concluded that the two sources of information matched: The man persistently sought new ways to contact his ex-girlfriend in real life, while repeatedly describing increasingly specific violent thoughts in ChatGPT.
The police ultimately determined that the case had gone beyond an ordinary breakup dispute.
Arrested in May, Goldman Sachs Fired Him the Following Month
In May of this year, the 25-year-old man was arrested and held for two days in Palm Beach County Jail before being released on $100,000 bail.
After the case came to light, his career was affected and Goldman Sachs fired him in June.
Facing 3 Felonies With Up to 25 Years, Ultimately Pleaded Guilty with 8 Years Supervision
Prosecutors ultimately charged the man with three felonies: aggravated stalking and harassment, making written threats to kill, and illegally using communications devices to plan a crime.
In theory, these charges could have earned him a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
However, the case ultimately did not result in jail time.
On the 13th of this month, the man pleaded guilty to all three charges, and, through a plea agreement, avoided jail and did not have a formal felony conviction on record.
According to the plea deal, the court sentenced him to eight years of supervision, with the first two years monitored by an electronic ankle bracelet.
He must also undergo a mental health evaluation, complete an abuser intervention program, have no contact with the ex-girlfriend or her family, not possess any weapons, and comply with prohibitions against drugs, drinking, and other restrictions.
The court also used a “withhold adjudication” approach, meaning a formal conviction was withheld for now.
The defense pointed out that the man had no prior criminal record, achieved outstanding academic results, was experiencing a severe mental health crisis at the time of the incident, and did not actually possess the firearms he had claimed to purchase.
Reports state that his 21-year-old ex-girlfriend also agreed to the plea agreement.
The judge ultimately accepted the plea and warned the man in court that he must accept the fact that the relationship was over, move on with his own life, and emphasized that no one should experience what he put his ex-girlfriend through.