Las Vegas Cybertruck bomber used ChatGPT to plan attack outside Trump hotel, police say

The elite army soldier who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI including ChatGPT to help plan the attack, Las Vegas police said Tuesday.

At a press conference police said an investigation of 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger's searches through ChatGPT indicate he was looking for information on explosive targets, the speed at which certain rounds of ammunition would travel and whether fireworks were legal in Arizona, the Associated Press reported.

Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, called the use of generative AI a “game-changer” and said the department was sharing information with other law enforcement agencies. “This is the first incident that I’m aware of on U.S. soil where ChatGPT is utilized to help an individual build a particular device,” he said. “It’s a concerning moment.”

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OpenAI said it was committed to seeing its tools used “responsibly” and that they’re designed to refuse harmful instructions. “In this case, ChatGPT responded with information already publicly available on the internet and provided warnings against harmful or illegal activities. We’re working with law enforcement to support their investigation,” OpenAI said in an emailed statement.

Las Vegas police and federal law enforcement officials unveiled new details about the New Year’s Day explosion. They revealed that Livelsberger stopped during the drive to Las Vegas to pour racing-grade fuel into the Cybertruck, which then dripped the substance.

The vehicle was loaded with 60 pounds of pyrotechnic material as well as 70 pounds of birdshot but officials are still uncertain exactly what detonated the explosion, but suspect it could have been from the flash from the firearm that Livelsberger used to fatally shoot himself.

Authorities said they uncovered a six-page document that might contain classified information, and said they are working on reviewing contents on a laptop, mobile phone and smartwatch.

Livelsberger kept titled “surveillance” or “surveil” log where he wrote he believed he was being tracked by law enforcement, but he was not on the police department’s of FBI’s “radar,” the sheriff said Tuesday. The log showed that he considered carrying out his plans in Arizona at the Grand Canyon’s glass skywalk, a tourist attraction on tribal land that towers high above the canyon floor, but it's not clear why he changed his mind.

The writings also showed he worried he would be labeled a terrorist and that people would think he intended to kill others besides himself, officials said.