“Can taking too many sleeping pills kill you?”—‘Gangbuk Motel Murder’ suspect Kim So-young’s ChatGPT conversations came back to haunt her

[Financial News]  Kim So-young, 20, who was sentenced to life imprisonment at her first trial in the ‘Gangbuk motel serial murder’ case, was found to have repeatedly asked ChatGPT, a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) service, about the possibility that drugs could be fatal and the level of punishment before and after the crimes.
The first-instance judgment released by SBS on the 8th included the conversations Kim So-young had with ChatGPT before and after the crimes.
According to the judgment, shortly after a male victim who had drunk a beverage mixed with drugs lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital in December last year, Kim So-young asked ChatGPT, “Will antidepressants and sleeping pills show up in a drug test?”
After the male victim regained consciousness and indicated that he would report the incident to police, Kim So-young continued a conversation with ChatGPT that appeared to deny the crime, asking, “I was prescribed sleeping pills and antidepressants in the past... Won’t they suspect me?” and “I’m anxious that the police might misunderstand and think I was the one who gave him the drugs.”
In January this year, before meeting another victim, Kim So-young also asked ChatGPT, “Can a person die from taking too many sleeping pills?” She was told that “in the worst case, it could result in death.” She also asked about the potential sentence if she were punished for involuntary manslaughter or manslaughter by abandonment. That day, Kim So-young left the unconscious male victim alone at a motel and departed the scene, and the victim eventually died.
The court considered the records of the conversations between the defendant and ChatGPT key evidence showing how she came to learn about the possibility of death caused by drugs.
Meanwhile, Kim So-young was indicted and detained in March on charges of giving beverages containing benzodiazepine-class drugs to three men in their 20s between December last year and February this year, killing two of them and causing one to lose consciousness. She was later additionally indicted on charges of injuring three other men using a similar method.
Seoul Northern District Court sentenced Kim So-young to life imprisonment on the 27th of last month and ordered her to wear an electronic location-tracking device for 30 years.
Prosecutors, who had previously sought the death penalty, appealed on grounds of mistaken findings of fact, misapplication of the law, and excessive sentencing. Kim So-young also appealed the first-instance ruling the day after it was handed down.
[email protected] Kim Soo-yeon Reporter