\n<\/p>\n
Jonathan Rinderknecht was facing arson charges for setting a fire on New Year\u2019s Day in 2025, which became one of the deadliest wildfires<\/a> in LA history<\/a>. To make their case, prosecutors turned to location data from his iPhone, security camera footage, and witness testimony. But they also turned to his ChatGPT logs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Prosecutors said that Rinderknecht had ChatGPT generate images of fire, asked the chatbot, \u201cWhy am I so angry all the time?\u201d, and ranted to it about how the wealthy were destroying the world. They also pointed to a screen recording in which Rinderknecht asked ChatGPT whether someone could be blamed for a fire if it was lit by their cigarette.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the jurors were unconvinced. The trial ended in a deadlock<\/a> when the jury voted 10-2 in favor of the defense. That led the judge to declare a hung jury and a mistrial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n