A 16-year-old boy from Győr made statements about violent acts while communicating with an artificial intelligence chatbot. According to Hungarian police, his conversations included threats against groups and individuals, discussions about preparations for attacks and references to weapons that could be used. The case came to the attention of Hungarian authorities after a warning from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
AI company alerted US investigators
In mid-September, the National Bureau of Investigation (NNI) of Hungary’s Rapid Response Police received information from the FBI about a user believed to be connected to Hungary. The US investigators had been alerted by a company operating in the field of artificial intelligence after one of its users allegedly made threats involving violent and life-threatening acts.
Documents forwarded to the Hungarian authorities indicated that the user had discussed violent acts against groups and individuals with an AI-powered chatbot and had also talked about preparations for such attacks.
‘This will soon be a mass atrocity’
Hungarian police quoted two statements from the conversation. In one, the user reportedly wrote: ‘There can be no mercy, and you have to be able to carry out what you have planned.’ Another message stated: ‘This will soon be a mass atrocity.’
According to police, the conversations also included discussions about weapons suitable for the planned attack.
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Electronic evidence led investigators to the teenager
NNI investigators identified the user based on electronic traces. According to police, the account belonged to a 16-year-old boy from Győr, western Hungary.
The teenager was arrested at his home on 15 September. Police searched the property and seized his mobile phone and computer. Forensic investigators have begun extracting and examining data from the devices.
The boy was taken into custody and questioned as a suspect on suspicion of making threats to commit an act of terrorism.
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Police warn of criminal consequences for online threats
Following the case, Hungarian police also warned that statements made on online platforms and in applications based on artificial intelligence can have criminal-law consequences. The authorities stressed that online statements concerning violence, attacks against people’s lives or acts of terrorism cannot simply be dismissed as a ‘schoolboy prank’.
The investigation is ongoing, with forensic investigators continuing to examine the electronic devices seized from the teenager.
Dinosaurs fascinate every small boy, I think. They are so large, and so powerful ! No one would try to make a T. rex stop playing with its Legos after dinner and go to bed. The small boy is, well, SO small . . . With a sigh he stands up, mortified, helpless, and trudges toward the stairs. His mother is already running his evening bath.
In Gyõr, a 16-year-old boy is still painfully small, shamefully powerless, with everyone humiliating him, telling him what to do. But with a gun he will be a fearsome T. rex. He will exact recognition from a world that now acknowledges him only to mock him.
Tranquil Hungary. The boy in Gyõr is an aberration. And the USA, crammed full of guns, where survival guides instruct tourists how to evade the dinosaurs that roam the streets.