Child who only speaks French gets lost and PM uses ChatGPT to locate family in Rio Grande do Sul

With the help of an AI tool, PM can communicate with a lost child and locate family - Photo: Military Police The parents of a lost child were found by the Military Police (MP) - the Military Police of Rio Grande do Sul - with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI). The 9-year-old boy, who is Haitian and only speaks French, was walking alone through the streets of Farroupilha, in the Serra Gaúcha, when he was found. The PMs managed to use the technology to communicate with the child and bring him back home. The incident happened on Saturday afternoon (17). The boy was not injured. Soldier Rafael Tondollo and Sergeant Jeferson Maurício Espinoza Carrets went to the location after a resident called 190. They began to talk with the child. When they realized the boy did not speak Portuguese, they used the ChatGPT tool to translate, in audio, questions such as: "Which school do you study?" and to search for clues about his address. "Since he was very scared, it was very difficult and time-consuming to start a dialogue; we needed some time for him to trust us and feel safe talking," Tondollo recounts. The boy told them where he studied, and the PMs headed to the location, expecting his house to be nearby. According to the MP soldier, the boy located himself and gave directions. "When we arrived at his street, he opened the vehicle's door missing almost a block from the house. He was very happy to return home." The parents were not home, but a neighbor contacted the father, and they soon returned. According to the MP, the parents were relieved upon finding their son. "His father is the one who speaks the most Portuguese; he informed us that they were in the center of the city shopping at a fruit stand and that the son said he was going to the bathroom. When they noticed it, he ran out the door towards the street. They started the search and after exhausting the possibilities, they walked home," the soldier states. According to the MP, the point where the child was located is approximately 1.5 km from the commerce where he was with his parents. The boy was alone for about an hour.