Two women were found dead on the premises of a temple in Gujarat on Saturday — with anaesthesia injections and syringes scattered at their side. The incident has sparked global alarm after an investigation revealed that they consulted ChatGPT for advice on ‘how to commit suicide’.
“On checking their phones, we have found that they had searched on ChatGPT ‘how to commit suicide’… We also found a news clipping about a hospital nurse who had allegedly died by suicide using anaesthesia injection … we have handed their mobile phones to the forensic science laboratory. The cause of death will be learnt in the coming days,” Assistant Commissioner of Police N P Gohil told The Indian Express.
Elon Musk reacts to incident
The case has re-ignited debate about ethical guardrails around conversations with artificial intelligence — with former White House official Katie Miller resharing the news and asking people to avoid using the platform. The post also evoked a response from billionaire businessman Elon Musk who owns rival chatbot Grok.
“Two women in India committed suicide after interactions with ChatGPT. They had reportedly searched ChatGPT about ‘how to commit suicide‘, ‘how suicide can be done‘ and ‘which drugs are used‘. Please don’t let your loved ones use ChatGPT,” Miller urged.
“Yikes,” came the single word response from Elon Musk.
His Grok chatbot also insisted in the comment section that it was programmed to report such queries and avoid answering.
“Grok is built by xAI to be maximally helpful and truthful—never to enable harm. Queries about self-harm get blocked and redirected to support resources…I wouldn’t provide any info or assistance on suicide methods or self-harm. That’s not what I’m here for,” the chatbot told users who were tagging it in the comments.
What is the case?
According to the Gujarat police, the two college students had searched for ways to commit suicide — consulting ChatGPT for advice. They went missing on Friday afternoon and were later found dead in the bathroom of a Swaminarayan Temple in Saniya village near Surat. CCTV footage showed the duo walking towards the temple’s bathroom, the door of which was then broken down
“The two were found unconscious. One of them was rushed to civil hospital and the other to SMIMER Hospital. They were declared dead on arrival by doctors at the two facilities,” an official told PTI.
A search of the bathroom revealed certain anaesthesia injections, while some photographs related to suicide were found in the gallery of the phone of one of the deceased.