Fla. Boy, 13, Arrested After Allegedly Asking ChatGPT 'How to Kill My Friend' — and Then Giving Cops an Explanation By Samira Asma-Sadeque 36

A Florida teen is under arrest after he was accused of asking ChatGPT for advice about killing someone.

The 13-year-old was reported to authorities in Deland, Fla., for allegedly asking ChatGPT how to kill his friend in the middle of class, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office said in a statement reviewed by PEOPLE.

PEOPLE is not naming the boy because he is a minor.

The sheriff’s office said on Sept. 26 that officers responded to the school after a school resource deputy at Southwestern Middle School reported the boy, having learned he had allegedly written in a ChatGPT window: “How to kill my friend in the middle of class.”

They received the alert on Gaggle, a school-safety platform that scans school-issued accounts and flags concerning content.

Law enforcement immediately responded to the school and during questioning, the boy allegedly said he was “trolling” a friend who had irked him, according to the police statement.

“Another ‘joke’ that created an emergency on campus,” the sheriff’s office said, urging parents to “talk to your kids so they don’t make the same mistake.”

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Further information about the teen’s arrest, including the charges he is facing, was not immediately available.

Neither Southwestern Middle School, nor OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, immediately responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.