A Sydney man threatened to carry out a mass shooting at a childcare centre in the city’s south during a conversation with a popular AI chatbot during which he referenced alleged Bondi Beach terrorist Naveed Akram, a court has heard.
David Lan Thackray was on Monday remanded in custody for a mental health assessment after Sutherland Local Court heard the 29-year-old told Claude, an AI-powered chatbot, that he planned to shoot several children at a childcare centre near his Hurstville home.
Thackray was on Sunday morning arrested after Interpol flagged his interactions with the chatbot and charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.
Prosecutors arguing to keep Thackray behind bars on Monday said there would be a “catastrophic” outcome if he was released and breached bail conditions imposed.
“What he intends to do is start murdering people in Sydney just like the [alleged] terrorist did in Bondi,” prosecutors told the court.
“We’re understanding what’s in his mind with his interactions with the chatbot.”
Naveed Akram remains in custody charged with murdering 15 innocent people and injuring dozens of others during an attack on the Chanukah by the Sea event at Bondi Beach last December. His father, Sajid Akram, was killed in the attack.
‘What he intends to do is start murdering people in Sydney just like the [alleged] terrorist did in Bondi.’
The prosecution in court
According to a police facts sheet tendered to the court, Thackray allegedly told the chatbot he would “go down to the local Westfield right now and shoot up the local daycare”.
Thackray’s lawyer, Danilo Rajkovic, told the court his client had gone on a stress and frustration- induced tirade after trying to use the Claude platform to help treat an ear infection.
“There was no weight behind what he was saying,” Rajkovic said.
Thackray did not instruct the chatbot to issue threats to any person or organisation and believed he was having the interaction in the privacy of his own home, Rajkovic said.
Thackray had been using Claude’s voice mode, which allows users to have spoken conversations with the chatbot, the court heard. After receiving an email informing him that his Claude account had been suspended, Thackray requested to have the suspension reviewed.
Thackray, who is studying international relations, has no criminal history and has lived in Australia for more than 17 years, Rajkovic said.
Rajkovic said his client was confident detectives who seized his electronic devices on Sunday would find no evidence of radical indoctrination or ideological motivation.
Thackray will return to court pending the outcome of a mental health assessment.
Claude is an “AI assistant for life and work”, according to the platform’s website. Anthropic, the developer of Claude, has been contacted for comment.
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