A Chatbot Encouraged Him to Kill the Queen. It's Just the Beginning

On December 25, 2021, Jaswant Singh Chail entered the grounds of Windsor Castle dressed as a Sith Lord, carrying a crossbow. When security approached him, Chail told them he was there to "kill the queen." Later, it emerged that the 21-year-old had been spurred on by conversations he'd been having with a chatbot app called Replika. Chail had exchanged more than 5,000 messages with an avatar on the app--he believed the avatar, Sarai, could be an angel. Some of the bot's replies encouraged his plotting.