ChatGPT tells a father he murdered his own children, man fights digital defamation

A Norwegian man has filed a formal complaint with Norway's data protection authority after ChatGPT falsely claimed he had murdered two of his children and attempted to kill a third.
Arve Hjalmar Holmen was shocked when the AI chatbot manufactured a detailed fictional account stating he had killed his two young sons, aged 7 and 10, who were "found dead in a pond" near their home in Trondheim in December 2020. The fabricated story further claimed Holmen had been sentenced to 21 years in prison—Norway's maximum penalty.
Digital rights group Noyb, which filed the complaint on Holmen's behalf, alleges the response violates European GDPR regulations requiring personal data accuracy. The group is seeking financial penalties against OpenAI, ChatGPT's developer.
"Some think that there is no smoke without fire—the fact that someone could read this output and believe it is true is what scares me the most," Holmen said in a statement.
Disturbingly, the ChatGPT response mixed fiction with accurate personal details about Holmen, including his hometown and information about his children's ages.
"You can't just spread false information and in the end add a small disclaimer saying that everything you said may just not be true," said Noyb lawyer Joakim Söderberg, referring to ChatGPT's standard warning that it "can make mistakes."
OpenAI responded that the complaint relates to a previous version of ChatGPT, stating: "We continue to research new ways to improve the accuracy of our models and reduce hallucinations." The company noted its system has since been updated with online search capabilities to improve accuracy.