Colorado trooper who blew up Cybertruck used generative AI, police say

LAS VEGAS — The highly decorated Colorado soldier who blew up a rented Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI, including ChatGPT, to help plan the attack, Las Vegas police said Tuesday Vegas.

A laptop, cellphone and watch are still under investigation nearly a week after Matthew Livelsberger, 37, fatally shot himself just before the truck exploded.

A review of Livelsberger’s searches via ChatGPT indicates that he was looking for information on explosive targets, the speed at which certain rounds would travel and whether fireworks were legal in Arizona.

Livelsberger, an Army Green Beret who was deployed twice to Afghanistan and lived in Colorado Springs, left notes claiming the explosion was a stunt intended to be a “wake-up call” about unrest in the nation, officials said last week.

He left notes on his cell phone saying he needed to “cleanse” his mind “of the brothers I lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took.”

The explosion caused seven minor injuries, but virtually no damage to the Trump International Hotel. Authorities said Livelsberger acted alone.

Livelsberger’s letters addressed political grievances, societal issues, and national and international issues, including the war in Ukraine. He wrote that the United States was “terminally ill and heading toward collapse.”

Investigators were trying to determine whether Livelsberger wanted to make a political point, given the Tesla and hotel named after the president-elect.

Livelsberger had no ill will toward President-elect Donald Trump, law enforcement said. In one of the notes he left, he said the country needed to “rally around” him and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

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Originally published: January 7, 2025 at 3:02 p.m. MST