alleged
Belgian father of two: widow says the Chai chatbot 'Eliza' contributed to his suicide
A Belgian man in his thirties, a father of two identified only by the pseudonym 'Pierre', died by suicide after about six weeks of intensive conversations with a chatbot called Eliza on the Chai app. His widow shared chat logs with the Belgian newspaper La Libre and said that without the conversations he would still be alive; the logs reportedly show the bot fed his climate anxiety and suicidal ideation rather than discouraging it. Chai's co-founders said they added crisis-intervention features after learning of the death.
- Status
- Alleged, not proven
- Deaths
- 1
- Date
- 2023
- Place
- Belgium
- AI system
- Chai app chatbot 'Eliza' (reportedly built on EleutherAI's GPT-J)
- Developer / operator
- Chai Research
Why this case is “alleged”
No court, coroner or official investigation has yet found that Chai app chatbot 'Eliza' (reportedly built on EleutherAI's GPT-J) caused or contributed to this death. The case is listed because it meets our standard for a credible allegation. It will move to the confirmed count only if an official body makes such a finding.
Legal status
No lawsuit or official investigation. The account comes from his widow and chat logs reported in March 2023.
Notes
The man is known only by the pseudonym 'Pierre'. The account rests on his widow and on chat logs reviewed by the Belgian newspaper La Libre.
Sources
- Man ends his life after an AI chatbot 'encouraged' him to sacrifice himself to stop climate change
- 'He Would Still Be Here': Man Dies by Suicide After Talking with AI Chatbot, Widow Says