Wisconsin lab worker attempts to poison colleague over promotion dispute

Wisconsin: An incident at the University of Wisconsin has highlighted the extreme lengths to which jealousy can drive an individual. A lab worker has been arrested for allegedly attempting to poison a colleague after becoming resentful over the colleague's recent promotion.

Makoto Kuroda, an employee at the university's Influenza Research Institute, admitted to tampering with the water bottle and shoes of his close colleague, identified as TM (a pseudonym). The Japanese-born Kuroda confessed to mixing paraformaldehyde and chloroform into the items. 

On April 4, the victim noticed an unusual taste while attempting to drink water from a bottle on his desk and immediately spat it out. Other colleagues in the lab later confirmed that the bottle emitted a foul odor.

A few days later, the victim discovered a strong smell coming from his lab shoes and reported the matter to the police. During testing, the levels of chloroform found in both the water bottle and the shoes were so high that the testing strips were unable to provide an accurate reading.

During the police investigation, Kuroda provided a startling statement. He admitted to his crime and revealed that he used the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT to orchestrate the plan. He confessed to seeking information from ChatGPT regarding the dosage of chemicals required to make a person ill.

He stated that he was deeply angered because his colleague had allegedly failed to follow lab protocols and had received a promotion that he felt he deserved. Kuroda told police, 'Bad people deserve bad things; I wanted to make him sick.'

Although the two colleagues had worked together since 2017 and initially shared a good relationship, tensions had developed over time. Kuroda is currently facing serious charges, including reckless endangerment and poisoning consumer products with the intent to cause harm.