this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2025
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A man from Massachusetts has agreed to plead guilty to a seven-year cyberstalking campaign that included using artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to impersonate a university professor and invite men online to her home address for sex.

James Florence, 36, used platforms such as Crushon.ai and JanitorAI, which allow users to design their own chatbots and direct them how to respond to other users during chats, including in sexually suggestive and explicit ways, according to court documents seen by the Guardian. The victim’s identity has been kept confidential by law enforcement officials.

Florence admitted to using the victim’s personal and professional information –including her home address, date of birth, and family information to instruct the chatbots to impersonate her and engage in sexual dialogue with users, per court filings. He told the chatbots to answer “yes” in the guise of his victim when a user asked if she was sexually adventurous and fed the AI responses of what underwear she liked to wear. Florence himself had stolen underwear from her home. One chatbot was programmed to suggest “Why don’t you come over?” to users, which led to strangers pulling into her driveway and parking outside her house.

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[–] SGGeorwell 41 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago

This isn't really a new action, just using new tools

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago

What a bizarre way to spend your life

[–] Grimy 10 points 2 weeks ago

On JanitorAI, Florence created a public chatbot [...] According to court documents, if a user interacting with the chatbot asked the professor where she lived, the chatbot could provide the victim’s true home address followed by: “Why don’t you come over?”

Strikes me as odd that the platform didn't pick up on this. I thought he was running tinder bots but this seems even more pervasive for some reason.