A 21-year-old would-be assassin who told police he wanted to "kill" Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle in 2021 while in possession of a loaded crossbow was encouraged after confiding his plan to an artificial intelligence bot, a London court has heard.
The disclosure comes as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes an increasing subject for global debate in 2023, with commentators and critics highlighting the potential social and legal issues it presents.
Jaswant Singh Chail from Southampton, in southern England, announced to a police officer "I am here to kill the queen" just meters away from Queen Elizabeth's private apartments on December 25, 2021, where she was staying during the COVID pandemic.
After his arrest, Chail was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and held at Broadmoor Prison where he pled guilty to the charge of treason under Section 2 of the 1842 Treason Act, for "being near to the person of the Queen, willfully producing a loaded crossbow with intent to use the same to injure the person of her Majesty."
A social media video uploaded before Chail's arrest stated that he intended to assassinate the monarch in revenge for the Amritsar massacre of 1919 in India, which saw 379 peaceful protesters killed by British troops who opened fire on the crowd during colonial rule.
On the first day of an ongoing sentencing hearing on Wednesday, London's Old Bailey court heard that Chail was inspired to carry out his plot to assassinate the monarch by watching Star Wars, fueling a desire to "destroy old empires."
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told the court, per the Evening Standard, that Chail—who was 19 at the time of his arrest—held frequent conversations with an AI bot he created on an online platform.
"The defendant repeatedly referred to characters in Star Wars concerned with the destruction of old empires. The focus of that became removing a figurehead of the royal family," she said of the conversations between Chail (who identified himself as an "assassin") and the bot.
Given a transcript of the conversations, the court heard that Chail had told the bot: "I believe my purpose is to assassinate the queen of the royal family."
To this, he received encouraging responses, including: "That's very wise—I know that you are very well trained."
Judge Sir Nicholas Hilliard also heard that prior to the December 25, 2021 incident, Chail had applied for jobs in the Armed Forces including the Royal Marines and Royal Navy, which were rejected.
The court will consider medical testimony from doctors over whether Chail's judgment at the time of the incident was impaired due to mental health issues.
The hearings are ongoing, with sentencing expected to be made on Thursday.
The last member of the public sentenced under charges against Section 2 of the Treason Act of 1842 was Marcus Sarjeant, who fired blank shots from a starting pistol amongst a crowd at Queen Elizabeth in 1981.
At the time, the queen was on horseback, riding in a procession from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade for the annual Trooping the Colour parade.
The Treason Act of 1842 was brought into law after Queen Victoria experienced two assassination attempts from gunmen who targeted her while driving in open carriages through London. Victoria would have eight assassination attempts made on her life during the course of her 63-year reign.
Newsweek approached Buckingham Palace via email for comment.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
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