Teenager arrested in Bahawalpur over alleged AI-assisted plan to poison father

LAHORE: The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has detained a 17-year-old college student in Bahawalpur for allegedly seeking help from an artificial intelligence (AI) system to poison his father.

The teenager, a second-year student and the only son of his parents, allegedly turned to an AI system after an earlier attempt to poison his father failed, officials said.

The agency was alerted through an automated alert generated by the AI system, following which an NCCIA Punjab team conducted an operation in Bahawalpur and detained the teenager, according to officials.

Officials said that the teenager had strained relations with his father and allegedly planned to poison him after a dispute.

Investigators said that the teenager was influenced by the US crime drama series “Breaking Bad” and had set up a small laboratory at home as he wanted to become a chemist.

He allegedly obtained chemical materials from Australia and Islamabad to prepare poison in the laboratory, officials said.

The investigation is under way and no case had been registered against the teenager so far, according to officials.