Student used artificial intelligence to stalk McDonald's worker

Farhan Ali, 27, kept tabs on his victim at the restaurant in Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, between February 3 and 23, 2024.

The business management student initially asked her 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 blocked him.

Ali, of Rutherglen, also attended the restaurant to buy a milkshake in order to see her.

Ali claimed that he did not believe he did anything wrong to her 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.

Ali was found guilty today at Glasgow Sheriff Court of stalking the victim.

The court heard that Ali attended the University of Stirling and worked as a Just Eat driver at the McDonald's.

Ali claimed that he had seen the victim in the past but was too shy to talk to her at work in front of colleagues.

CCTV was shown of Ali approaching her at 11pm while she was emptying bins in the car park.

The victim told the court in her evidence that she was "scared" when Ali spoke to her.

Ali was stated to have said to her that he had been "watching her at work."

Ali, however, claimed that she was smiling at her and later added him 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 sometime, no pressure, just let me know if you are up for it."

Both of his messages were not read by the victim.

Ali went on to attend the restaurant where he ordered a milkshake which was handed to him by the victim.

Prosecutor Redmond Harris put it to Ali in his evidence that he was trying to "engineer" contact between him and the victim 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 the victim 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 the victim into the 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: "You did apologise, are you saying that Chat GPT told you to?"

Ali: "That was the message that was suggested by Chat GPT and I thought it would be better if I do this."

The victim 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 Sheriff Anthony Deutsch.