Sydney man arrested after revealing intent to shoot at childcare center to Claude
Sydney, Australia — A 29-year-old man, Thackeray, told Anthropic's chatbot Claude that he wanted to shoot children at a childcare center near his home, and was subsequently detained by police on the 18th local time and charged with using a communications service to harass, intimidate, or offend. Prosecutors' documents show he told Claude he wanted to immediately go to the nearby Westfield shopping center and open fire on the childcare center, and also mentioned Akram, the suspect in the Bondi Beach attack. It is currently unclear how Interpol obtained the chat records and whether Anthropic proactively provided the conversation content; Thackeray will undergo a mental health assessment.
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The incident presents a concrete pathway by which chat logs were used in criminal charges, and also raises questions about the privacy of AI conversations and the boundaries of platform disclosure.
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Sydney man arrested after telling Claude he "wanted to shoot up a childcare center"
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According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the conversation between the 29-year-old Thackeray and Claude drew the attention of Interpol, and he was taken into police custody on the 18th local time. Police charged him with using a carriage service to harass, intimidate or offend, in an alleged violation of Australian criminal law.
Documents submitted by prosecutors show that Thackeray told Claude: "I want to go to the nearby Westfield shopping center right now and open fire on the local childcare center."
According to the report, it is currently unclear how Interpol obtained the chat records, and whether Anthropic proactively provided the conversation content to Interpol.
Thackeray not only talked about attacking the local childcare center and killing children on a mass scale, but also mentioned Naveed Akram in the conversation.
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Prosecutors pointed out in court: "He just wanted to go on a killing spree in Sydney like the man in Bondi suspected of carrying out a terrorist attack. Through his conversation with the chatbot, we can understand what he was actually thinking."
Thackeray's defense lawyer said the client had merely lost control of his emotions and used the chatbot to vent his grievances. The lawyer explained that Thackeray had an ear infection and therefore felt stressed and irritable, and that his words should not be taken seriously at all.
He also stressed that Thackeray had always believed that his conversation with Claude was a private exchange. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Thackeray will undergo a mental health assessment.
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Multiple criminal incidents have been believed to be linked to the individuals' long-term use of chatbots, including a murder-suicide case, as well as mass shootings such as the 2025 Florida State University shooting in the United States and the Taber Ridge school shooting in Canada in February this year.