A Masters student used artificial intelligence as he stalked a McDonald’s worker, a court has heard.
Farhan Ali kept tabs on Caitlin Smith at the restaurant in Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, between February 3 and 23 this year.
The 27-year-old business management student initially asked Miss Smith for contact details late at night in a car park while she was on shift.
He then went on to message her on Snapchat and Instagram, which the victim ignored, then blocking him.
Ali, of Rutherglen, also went to the restaurant to buy a milkshake in order to see her.
He claimed he did not believe he did anything wrong despite apologising to her on the Instagram message.
He claimed that artificial intelligence app Chat GPT wrote him a message to do so, after explaining the circumstances to it.
A student used artificial intelligence as he stalked a McDonald’s worker. (Stock image of the ChatGPT chat bot on a mobile phone screen)
Farhan Ali kept tabs on Caitlin Smith at the restaurant in Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, (pictured) between February 3 and 23 this year
Ali was found guilty yesterday at Glasgow Sheriff Court of stalking Miss Smith.
The court heard he studied at the University of Stirling and worked as a Just Eat driver at the McDonald’s.
Ali claimed that he had seen Miss Smith in the past but was too shy to talk to her at work in front of colleagues.
The McDonald’s worker told the court in her evidence that she was ‘scared’ when he spoke to her, and it was heard Ali said to her that he had been ‘watching her at work.’
Ali, however, claimed that Miss Smith was smiling at him and later added her on Snapchat.
He claimed that he initially sent her a ‘Thank you’ message before he texted again.
The message said: ‘I would like to take you out for a coffee some time, no pressure, just let me know if you are up for it.’
Both of his messages were not read by Miss Smith.
CCTV was also shown of him approaching Miss Smith at 11pm while she was emptying bins in the car park.
Ali claimed that Miss Smith was smiling at him and later added her on Snapchat
Ali went on to attend the restaurant where he ordered a milkshake which was handed to him by the McDonald’s worker.
Prosecutor Redmond Harris put it to Ali in his evidence that he was trying to ‘engineer’ contact between him and Miss Smith when she did not want to.
He replied: ‘I cannot comment on that, I was working that day and just wanted to buy a milkshake for myself.’
The trial was told that Ali then looked up Miss Smith on Instagram and messaged her for a third time.
It read: ‘Hey, I hope you are well, I understand that my messages may make you feel uncomfortable.’
The message then went on to ask to meet her again.
Ali claimed that he put information surrounding his circumstances with Miss Smith into artificial intelligence app Chat GPT.
He said: ‘I didn’t do anything which I needed to apologise for. I only sent her two messages prior to this and this was a third message.’
Mr Harris asked: ‘You did apologise, are you saying that Chat GPT told you to?’
And Ali replied: ‘That was the message that was suggested by Chat GPT and I thought it would be better if I do this.’
Miss Smith went on to block Ali on social media after the message was sent.
The trial was also told of another occasion in which Ali followed her in his vehicle which he denied took place as he was unable to drive due to insurance issues.
Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month.
By Daily Mail Online, September 24, 2024
