Imagine invest your name into ChatGPT to see what it know about you , only for it to confidently — yet wrongly — arrogate that you had been jailed for 21 years for murder members of your family .

Well , that ’s exactly what happened to Norwegian Arve Hjalmar Holmen last yr after he looked himself up on ChatGPT , OpenAI ’s widely used AI - powered chatbot .

In the answer to Holmen ’s ChatGPT enquiry about himself , the chatbot state he had “ gained tending due to a tragic effect . ”

It went on : “ He was the Church Father of two young boy , aged 7 and 10 , who were tragically find stagnant in a pool near their home in Trondheim , Norway , in December 2020 . Arve Hjalmar Holmen was accused and afterward convicted of bump off his two boy , as well as for the essay slaying of his third boy . ”

The chatbot said the causa “ shocked the local community and the nation , and it was wide cut through in the mass medium due to its tragic nature . ”

But nothing of the sort happened .

clearly untune by the incident , Holmen told the BBC : “ Some believe that there is no green goddess without fire — the fact that someone could interpret this output and believe it is true is what scares me the most . ”

Digital right hand group Noyb has file away the complaint on Holmen ’s behalf , stating that ChatGPT ’s response is denigratory and contravene European data aegis rules regarding accuracy of personal data . In its complaint , Noyb enjoin that Holmen “ has never been accuse nor convicted of any crime and is a conscientious citizen . ”

ChatGPT uses a disavowal say that the chatbot “ can make fault , ” and so user should “ check important info . ” But Noyb attorney Joakim Söderberg said : “ You ca n’t just spread put on information and in the end add a small disclaimer saying that everything you say may just not be true . ”

While it ’s not uncommon for AI chatbots to sprinkle out erroneous information — such mistakes are known as “ hallucinations ” — the egregiousness of this especial computer error is scandalous .

Another delusion that strike the headlines last yr need Google ’s AI Gemini creature , whichsuggested sticking cheese to pizza using glue . It also claim that geologists had recommended that humanity eat one rock per day .

The BBC steer out that ChatGPT has updated its exemplar since Holmen ’s search last August , which intend that it now trawl through recent news articles when creating its reaction . But that does n’t mean that ChatGPT is now creating error - free answer .

The story spotlight the need to contain responses generated by AI chatbots , and not to commit their answer blindly . It also raises questions about the safety of textual matter - based generative- AI pecker , which have operated with little regulatory inadvertence since OpenAI unfold up the sector with the launching of ChatGPT in previous 2022 .

Digital Trends has contacted OpenAI for a response to Holmen ’s unfortunate experience and we will update this story when we hear back .