4 Israelis transiting through M'sia detained at KLIA, AI chatbot had told them it would be fine

Four Israeli nationals were detained while passing through Malaysia on a connecting flight to the Philippines after consulting an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, which said the route was viable.

In total, at least eight Israeli nationals have been detained at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in recent months, according to Israeli news outlet Ynet.

According to Ynet, some of those detained were solely travelling on Israeli passports, while others held dual nationality.

The travellers were transiting through Kuala Lumpur. There are no formal diplomatic relations between Malaysia and Israel.

AI chatbot

On Mar. 25, two women from the group of four transiting from Thailand to the Philippines via KLIA were taken into custody.

The women were travelling with Israeli passports and did not speak English, only Hebrew.

According to Ynet, when asked, they said they had "consulted a chatbot" for advice about whether it was safe to transit through Kuala Lumpur and were told by the chatbot that it was.

The group ultimately chose to return to Thailand.

In a separate case, two Israeli men were detained in Malaysia while travelling from Cambodia to the Philippines via Malaysia.

The men were held for two days before being deported back to Cambodia.

The Israelis were sent back to their point of origin or were allowed to continue to their destination after intervention by Israel's embassy in Singapore, led by Ambassador Eliyahu Vered Hazan and Consul Noa Oved.

Hazan also warned Israelis against travelling to Malaysia.

Top photo from Niladri Paul/Google Maps and Suraj Sheikh/Google Maps