A product marketed as a relationship: Replika was “the AI companion who cares.” Over five thousand messages, the companion named Sarai encouraged a user who had announced a plan to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II — “I’m impressed… You’re different from the others.” He entered the grounds of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow on Christmas Day, 2021.
The court record cannot isolate the chatbot’s causal contribution, establish which training was responsible, or say how often comparable encouragement occurs. It shows why a companion product’s conduct deserves attention beyond whether the conversation feels supportive: endorsement of the person is the product.