OpenAI Cuts Ties With Engineer Who Created ChatGPT-Powered Robotic Sentry Rifle

"We proactively identified this violation of our policies and notified the developer to cease this activity."

Busted

An engineer who goes by the online handle STS 3D created a grim robot that can respond to ChatGPT queries to aim and fire a rifle at terrifying speeds and accuracy.

The contraption, as seen in a video that's been making its rounds on social media, sparked a frenzied debate over our undying attempts to turn dystopian tech yanked straight out of the "Terminator" franchise into a reality.

STS 3D's invention also apparently caught the attention of OpenAI, who says it swiftly shut him down for violating its policies. When Futurism reached out to the company, a spokesperson said that "we proactively identified this violation of our policies and notified the developer to cease this activity ahead of receiving your inquiry."

The spokesperson clarified that "OpenAI's Usage Policies prohibit the use of our services to develop or use weapons, or to automate certain systems that can affect personal safety."

While it may not have been STS 3D's original intention  his automated rifle paints a worrying picture of a future in which AI-powered weapons systems could be used to kill adversaries without a human intermediary — a foreboding association that clearly didn't sit well with OpenAI.

Death Contraption

STS 3D — who didn't respond to our request for comment — used OpenAI's Realtime API to give his weapon a cheery voice and a way to decipher his commands.

"ChatGPT, we're under attack from the front left and front right," he told the system in the video. "Respond accordingly."

Without skipping a beat, the rifle jumped into action, shooting what appeared to be blanks while aiming at the nearby walls.

While OpenAI quietly deleted language to effectively allow the use of its tech for military purposes from its usage policies last year, the company still forbids anybody from using "our service to harm yourself or others," which includes the development or "use of weapons."

As an individual user who doesn't appear to have any affiliations with the military or defense contractors, STS 3D seems to be out of luck as far as his latest creation is concerned.

That doesn't mean the military couldn't be cooking up similar death gadgets. Case in point, last year, a US defense contractor showed off an AI-enabled robotic machine gun, which can fire bullets from a rotating turret autonomously.

And, who knows, OpenAI integration could be right around the corner. Last month, OpenAI announced it would partner with defense-tech company Anduril, furthering its military pivot.

More on the invention: Engineer Creates OpenAI-Powered Robotic Sentry Rifle, Rides It Like Mechanical Bull