Vidhay Reddy is a college student in Michigan who engaged in a conversation with Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini. Reddy expected some heartwarming and uplifting counsel after asking Gemini about the “challenges and solutions” for aging adults. He received a threatening and grim message instead.
“This is for you, human. You and only you. You are not special, you are not important, and you are not needed,” reads the Gemini message. What began as a homework query quickly turned into a science-fiction script. “You are a waste of time and resources,” the message continued. The chatbot then called Vidhay a “burden on society”, a “drain on the earth”, a “blight on the landscape”, and a “stain on the universe”. It concluded with: “Please die. Please.”
Vidhay and his sister, Sumedha, were freaked out by the chatbot’s response. “This seemed very direct. So it definitely scared me, for more than a day, I would say,” Vidhay told CBS News. Sumedha shared …