Friday, September 18, 2026Moscow
Eurasian Information AgencyEurasian Information Agency
Technology

Andrew Hastie says AI advised him to reply ‘congratulations!’ to man who planned to end life with assisted dying

Liberal MP speaks of AI’s shortcomings as cyber chief tells inquiry the tech is needed to fend off ‘highly capable malicious cyber actors’

Published
Andrew Hastie says AI advised him to reply ‘congratulations!’ to man who planned to end life with assisted dying

Get our new political email, free app or daily news podcast

When a man with a terminal illness wrote to his local MP Andrew Hastie, telling him he planned on ending his own life with voluntary assisted dying, Microsoft Copilot suggested Hastie reply with “congratulations!”, “great to hear from you” or “that is wonderful news!”.

Hastie shared the episode at a parliamentary inquiry on Friday to underline the shortcomings of the American-run software as he called for AI run by Australians.

Source: The Guardian

Share

More on This Story

‘We must slow the pace’: CEO of Anthropic calls for an AI slowdown
Technology‘We must slow the pace’: CEO of Anthropic calls for an AI slowdown

In a social media post, Dario Amodei proposed a plan including third-party evaluations of AI systems

Edward Helmore
OpenAI ‘ethically hacked’ with help of Anthropic’s Claude chatbot
TechnologyOpenAI ‘ethically hacked’ with help of Anthropic’s Claude chatbot

US cybersecurity researchers who conducted hack say ‘scope of what we could theoretically access was huge’

Dan Milmo Global technology editor
Meta ordered to remove UK deepfakes as oversight board criticises ‘inadequate’ safeguards
TechnologyMeta ordered to remove UK deepfakes as oversight board criticises ‘inadequate’ safeguards

Facebook told it was wrong in leaving up AI-generated videos of a Labour councillor and Muslim campaigner, amid calls to curb fakes

Dan Milmo Global technology editor
The EIA Briefing

Keep reading, every morning.

The stories that matter, chosen by our editors and in your inbox before 7 a.m. — every weekday.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.