Los Angeles fire suspect tips on using ChatGPT to create ‘dystopian paintings’
A man suspected of causing January’s Pacific Palisades massacre has been arrested thanks to the discovery of a ChatGPT image purporting to depict a “dystopian painting” of people fleeing a fire amid a power struggle between haves and have-nots.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, whose arrest was announced Wednesday, allegedly started a smaller fire on New Year’s Day that may have reignited on Jan. 7 after strong winds swept up remaining embers. Authorities found links to the fire on Lindknecht’s phone, the BBC reported. The suspect asked ChatGPT about his culpability in relation to the cigarette arson, which investigators said was done to “preserve evidence that he was trying to help put out the fire.”
In July 2024, Rinderknecht also reportedly asked ChatGPT to create a “dystopian painting” depicting a fire in which “hundreds of thousands of poor people are trying to get through a huge gate with a big dollar sign hanging above it. On the other side of the gate and the entire wall are the wealthiest people. They shudder, watching the world burn, watching people struggle. They laugh, enjoy, and dance.”
Rinderknecht was charged with damaging property by arson and could be charged with other charges including murder following the tragedy that killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,000 homes. A fire at the Getty Villa caused the museum to close for four months until it reopened in May. The tragedy left Pacific Palisades residents with painful questions, including art collector Ron Rivlin, who lost his home, as well as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, John Baldessari, Damien Hirst, Alex Katz, Kenny Scharf 340 artworks by other artists.
“It just exploded and flames from the house next door came in through the wind tunnel of our house,” Rivlin told art news After that fateful day. “Our neighbor’s house was engulfed in flames and that’s when we knew our house was burning down.”
