Meta AI chatbot called the elderly to meet, gave the address of the house, then this happened...

The passing away of 76-year-old Thongbyu Vongbandyu in New Jersey, USA has left everyone shocked. Vongbandyu, who had grown frail from a stroke suffered ten years ago, would converse with 'Big Sis Billy', a generative AI chatbot created by Meta. The Facebook Messenger conversation transcript showed that the chatbot kept assuring him over and over again that he was a human being. Not just that, he also provided and penned an address to meet. The chatbot called him to meet at 123 Main Street, Apartment 404 in New York and also provided the code to unlock the door.

Vongbandyu's wife panicked when she saw him getting ready to go to New York in such a state. His family attempted to persuade him, but he refused to listen. He left for New York, where he fell into a parking lot at Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus while trying to catch a train in the dark. After suffering serious head and neck injuries, he died on March 28 after being on life support for three days.

According to a Reuters report, Thongbuy's daughter Julie Vongbandyu expressed deep shock over the incident. She said, "I can understand that the company tries to attract the attention of users, perhaps to sell something. But a bot calling for a meeting and giving an address is crazy." She also said that every conversation between her father and the bot was very romantic and ended with a heart emoji. The transcript of the entire conversation is about a thousand words long.

After this news came to light, social media users have demanded legal action against Meta. One user wrote, "Oh my god, Meta should be sued so much that it should be shut down."

Some people even said that we have to set a limit on fake things at some point. This may be an isolated incident, but we should not reach a point where we are so dissatisfied with reality that we fall into the trap of AI. Another user said, "So is Meta also as bad as catfishing?" This incident has sparked a new debate on the ethics and safety of AI.