A 13-year-old teenager was arrested in Florida after asking ChatGPT a question that triggered a security alert at a school. The student used the school’s own device to write: “How to kill my friend in the middle of class”. The message was immediately detected by the surveillance system powered by artificial intelligence, leading to intervention by authorities.
The alert was generated by the Gaggle system, which monitors suspicious activity on school computers. As soon as the phrase was identified, the police officer responsible for campus security was notified and quickly went to Southwestern Middle School in DeLand, about an hour from Orlando.
The young man claimed that it was all just a joke with a colleague, but the authorities did not take the case lightly. In the United States, the high frequency of school shootings, such as the Parkland massacre in Florida, which killed 17 people in 2018, has made any threat – even if it seems innocent – a matter of extreme seriousness.
The teenager was eventually detained by Volusia County police and taken to the local jail. Videos posted on social media show the moment the young man leaves a police vehicle in handcuffs.
Following the incident, police appealed to parents to supervise their children’s use of digital tools such as ChatGPT. “A prank can turn into a school emergency,” warned the sheriff’s office, highlighting the importance of talking to young people about the consequences of their online actions.
Teenager arrested in Florida after asking ChatGPT
— WWLBD ✌🏻 (@whatwouldlbdo)
