Man arrested after discussing plans for childcare mass shooting with [Claude]

A 29-year-old Sydney man, David Lan Thackray, was arrested after interacting with the AI chatbot Claude and discussing plans to carry out a mass shooting at a childcare centre near his Hurstville home. Interpol flagged the chatbot exchanges, and police charged him with using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend. Prosecutors told the court he invoked the Bondi attacker Naveed Akram and warned he intended to "start murdering people in Sydney," arguing release would risk a catastrophic outcome. Police documents say he told the chatbot he would "go down to the local Westfield right now and shoot up the local daycare." Thackray was remanded for a mental health assessment and will return to court.

His lawyer said the statements were a stress- and frustration-driven tirade after trying to use Claude to help with an ear infection, that there was no real intent behind them, and that he believed the conversation was private; Thackray has no criminal history and is studying international relations. He used Claude’s voice mode and sought a review after his account was suspended. Anthropic, Claude’s maker, trains the model to refuse violent requests and says automated systems block such exchanges and data may be shared with law enforcement when needed to prevent serious harm.