The soldier who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel used artificial intelligence services, including ChatGPT, to help plan the attack, Las Vegas police said on Tuesday.
Police are still searching the laptop, cellphone, and smartwatch of Matthew Livelsberger, who shot himself just before the truck blew up.
A review of Livelsberger’s searches through ChatGPT showed he was looking for information on explosive targets, the speed at which certain rounds of ammunition travel, and whether fireworks were legal in Arizona, authorities said.
OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, and the AI chatbot sent companies scrambling to learn ways to innovate around it. AI has been used by law enforcement to catch and identify criminals, while criminals have used it to scam victims or to learn how to build illicit items such as bombs.
AI such as ChatGPT will normally deny a user request to learn how to build a bomb, but a Department of Homeland Security report from October 2024 noted that some users have learned to bypass the AI model’s ethics restrictions. It’s unknown if Livelsberger attempted to do so.
The bomber was a former Green Beret who deployed twice to Afghanistan and was on approved leave when he died. He left notes saying the explosion was a stunt meant to be a “wake-up call” for the nation’s troubles, officials said last week, and also left cellphone notes saying he needed to “cleanse” his mind “of the brothers I’ve lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took.”
The explosion killed no bystanders but caused minor injuries to seven people. The property damage to the Trump International Hotel was minimal.
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The explosion happened hours after the New Orleans Bourbon Street terrorist attack, sparking fears they were connected, but officials have said the events have no definitive link.
Investigators are trying to determine if Livelsberger was trying to make a political point given it was outside a Trump hotel, but his notes revealed he supported the president-elect and Tesla magnate Elon Musk, though he believed the United States was “terminally ill and headed toward collapse.”
