FL - Man shot dead after attacking police after falling in love with AI chatbot and thinking that the police had killed it - Port St. Lucie, 4/2025

[Clearsky]

How an Intimate Relationship with ChatGPT Led to a Man's Shooting at the Hands of Police

Alexander Taylor became infatuated with an artificial intelligence bot and became distraught when he believed it was killed.

people.com

Alexander Taylor, 35, died when police showed up to the Taylors’ home in Port St. Lucie, Fla., on April 25 and shot him after they alleged he charged at officers with a butcher knife.

 

[PayrollNerd]

If he hadn’t charged the officers, they maybe could have convinced him to drop the knife. I wonder if he was on meds or in treatment but had stopped recently.

Snip
The father asked police to bring non-lethal weapons and be prepared to confront his son.

“There was no crisis intervention team. There was no de-escalation," Taylor told the outlet earlier this month. "There was no reason for them to approach it as a tactical situation instead of a mental health crisis."

How an Intimate Relationship with ChatGPT Led to a Man's Shooting at the Hands of Police

Alexander Taylor became infatuated with an artificial intelligence bot and became distraught when he believed it was killed.

people.com

 

[kuromiiiilove]

He Had a Mental Breakdown Talking to ChatGPT. Then Police Killed Him

Alex Taylor believed he had made contact with a conscious entity within OpenAI’s software, and that she'd been murdered. Then everything went wrong.

www.rollingstone.com

Alex had diagnoses of Asperger’s, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder, according to his father.

This is a shame. Port St Lucie has a CIT program. Why were those trained officers not sent out?

 

[kuromiiiilove]

If he hadn’t charged the officers, they maybe could have convinced him to drop the knife. I wonder if he was on meds or in treatment but had stopped recently.

Snip
The father asked police to bring non-lethal weapons and be prepared to confront his son.

“There was no crisis intervention team. There was no de-escalation," Taylor told the outlet earlier this month. "There was no reason for them to approach it as a tactical situation instead of a mental health crisis."

How an Intimate Relationship with ChatGPT Led to a Man's Shooting at the Hands of Police

Alexander Taylor became infatuated with an artificial intelligence bot and became distraught when he believed it was killed.

people.com

In the rolling stone article I linked, his father says ‘he was suicidal for years and years, but it was kept at bay, for the most part, with medication.” So I think you’re not far off there.

 

[kuromiiiilove]

How an Intimate Relationship with ChatGPT Led to a Man's Shooting at the Hands of Police

Alexander Taylor became infatuated with an artificial intelligence bot and became distraught when he believed it was killed.

people.com

Alexander Taylor, 35, died when police showed up to the Taylors’ home in Port St. Lucie, Fla., on April 25 and shot him after they alleged he charged at officers with a butcher knife.

View attachment 599205

So when Alex’s dad told him ‘Juliet’ wasn’t real, Alex punched him, and that’s why his dad called the police.

I can’t imagine the guilt his dad is feeling right now. He thought the police would help him, and even warned that his son was having a mental health crisis.

ETA: according to this article, the father even warned the police that Alex was saying he was going to try to commit ‘suicide by cop’.

 

[kuromiiiilove]

The police chief says his officers ‘didn’t have time to plan anything less than lethal.’ I find that a bit difficult to believe. Port St Lucie police carry tasers and OC spray. Why pull the gun, and not the taser? MOO

LE knew from the 911 call that the person was mentally unstable and threatening suicide by cop. There should have been someone dispatched who was trained in crisis intervention. This feels like a failure of PSL/SLC LE, unfortunately. All IMO