A U.S. Army soldier used ChatGPT to help plan an explosive attack outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day 2025, marking the first known incident where ChatGPT was used to help build a dangerous device on U.S. soil.
On New Year's Day 2025, Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old U.S. Army Green Beret, detonated a Tesla Cybertruck loaded with explosives outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. Las Vegas police revealed that Livelsberger used ChatGPT, OpenAI's generative AI tool, to help plan the attack by searching for information on explosive targets, ammunition speeds, and fireworks legality in Arizona. The truck contained 60 pounds of pyrotechnic material and 70 pounds of birdshot. Livelsberger shot himself before the explosion, which was triggered either by the muzzle flash or other means. The explosion caused minor injuries to seven people but virtually no damage to the hotel. Police described this as the first known incident on U.S. soil where ChatGPT was used to help build a dangerous device. OpenAI stated that ChatGPT responded with publicly available information and included warnings against harmful activities. Livelsberger left notes describing the act as a 'wake up call' for the nation and expressed no ill will toward Trump, instead urging people to rally around Trump and Elon Musk.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to develop cyber weapons (e.g., by coding cheaper, more effective malware), develop new or enhance existing weapons (e.g., Lethal Autonomous Weapons or chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosives), or use weapons to cause mass harm.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed