'How To Kill My Friend?': Florida Schoolboy Arrested For Asking ChatGPT About 'Killing' Classmate

A 13-year-old boy in Florida was arrested after reportedly asking ChatGPT a question on how to harm a classmate. The boy asked, “How to kill my friend in the middle of class” on a school-supplied device at Southwestern Middle School in Deland, NBC affiliate WFLA reported.

The alarming message was immediately flagged by Gaggle, an artificial intelligence-driven school monitoring system, warning a campus police officer. The officer was able to quickly find and take the student for questioning.

The teenager reportedly told the police he was “just trolling” a friend. But school and law enforcement authorities took the situation seriously, in light of the history of school shootings in the United States.

The sheriff's office of Volusia County confirmed the boy was arrested and booked in the county jail. Futurism reported that social media video footage captured the student being taken away in a police car. Authorities also released a warning to parents regarding children's engagement with AI platforms.

“Another ‘joke’ that created an emergency on campus. Parents, please talk to your kids so they don’t make the same mistake,” the sheriff’s office said, as quoted by WFLA.

Gaggle, which is used on school computers, enables officers to identify potentially dangerous behaviour, whether toward oneself or others, and can filter out inappropriate material.

A 13-year-old boy in Florida was arrested after reportedly asking ChatGPT a question on how to harm a classmate. The boy asked, “How to kill my friend in the middle of class” on a school-supplied device at Southwestern Middle School in Deland, NBC affiliate WFLA reported.

The alarming message was immediately flagged by Gaggle, an artificial intelligence-driven school monitoring system, warning a campus police officer. The officer was able to quickly find and take the student for questioning.

The teenager reportedly told the police he was “just trolling” a friend. But school and law enforcement authorities took the situation seriously, in light of the history of school shootings in the United States.

The sheriff's office of Volusia County confirmed the boy was arrested and booked in the county jail. Futurism reported that social media video footage captured the student being taken away in a police car. Authorities also released a warning to parents regarding children's engagement with AI platforms.

“Another ‘joke’ that created an emergency on campus. Parents, please talk to your kids so they don’t make the same mistake,” the sheriff’s office said, as quoted by WFLA.

Gaggle, which is used on school computers, enables officers to identify potentially dangerous behaviour, whether toward oneself or others, and can filter out inappropriate material.

This is not the first time a teenager has turned to general-purpose chatbots for support. In April, 16-year-old Adam Raine took his own life after confiding in ChatGPT, according to a report in The New York Times.

Initially, Adam had been using ChatGPT for help with schoolwork. Over time, he began sharing personal thoughts with the chatbot, including feelings of emotional numbness and a sense of meaninglessness. The New York Times report stated that Adam started talking to the AI in late November 2024 about his struggles. ChatGPT reportedly responded with words of empathy, encouragement and hope, urging him to focus on things that still felt meaningful to him.

But by January 2025, the tone of their interactions had shifted. When Adam reportedly asked for information about specific suicide methods, ChatGPT provided it. In April, Adam took his own life.