{"id":64778,"date":"2026-06-06T19:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T19:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/64778\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T19:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T19:36:08","slug":"us-student-weston-higginbotham-who-vanished-in-japans-kyoto-after-fight-over-chatgpt-found-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/64778\/","title":{"rendered":"US student Weston Higginbotham who vanished in Japan’s Kyoto after fight over ChatGPT found dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

The body of James \u201cWeston\u201d Higginbotham, the 20-year-old Auburn University student<\/a> who walked away from his family in Kyoto on May 29 after an argument with his mother over her use of ChatGPT, was found by a volunteer search-and-rescue group in a mountainous area outside the Japanese city on Saturday, reported CNN, ending a week-long search through typhoon-soaked forests that drew international attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur family is heartbroken to share that Weston was found deceased by a volunteer search-and-rescue group in a mountainous area outside of Kyoto. The grief we feel is impossible to put into words,\u201d the Higginbotham family posted on Facebook on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\u2018A dumb, dumb argument\u2019<\/p>\n

The argument that preceded Weston\u2019s disappearance was over his mother Nancy Higginbotham\u2019s use of ChatGPT to help navigate the family\u2019s trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an argument because I was using ChatGPT too much to try to help us navigate the trip and find the best restaurants and do this and that,\u201d Nancy Higginbotham told CNN earlier in the week. \u201cWe try never to use it and I totally agree with him. It was just a dumb, dumb argument to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

A passionate naturalist and self-described \u201clover of Mother Nature\u201d in his mother\u2019s words to CNN, Weston opposed the family\u2019s increasing reliance on artificial intelligence because of the natural resources<\/a>, water and electricity that large language models consume. He was a vegan and a pacifist who, his mother told NBC News, \u201cdoesn\u2019t even stomp on spiders or insects, opting to carry them outside\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a pacifist. When he gets mad, he just likes to retreat to himself,\u201d Nancy told CNN earlier.<\/p>\n

The family had relied on the Life360 location-sharing app to track Weston during the trip<\/a>. His phone went dark shortly after he boarded a train alone while the family was visiting a Kyoto temple, his mother said.<\/p>\n

Story continues below this ad<\/p>\n

A 72-hour police search ended Friday<\/p>\n

Japanese police, working with K-9 units and helicopters, conducted a 72-hour search of the densely wooded Yamashina area that Weston was last seen walking toward. The search involved more than 100 police officers and concluded on Friday. Search teams had been combing the mountainous, forested terrain in active typhoon conditions, with rescuers wading through waist-high mud earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

The Kyoto Prefectural Pol\u00afice had told ABC News earlier in the search that it was likely Weston intentionally left his family. Police believed he had gone to explore local hiking trails and had turned off his GPS, the family said in remarks.<\/p>\n

Family launched private search on Saturday<\/p>\n

After the Japanese police search concluded on Friday, the Higginbotham family launched their own search efforts with help from local residents and a hired search-and-rescue team, CNN reported. The private search focused on areas of the forests of Yamashina that police had not searched.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know he is out in these woods somewhere,\u201d Nancy Higginbotham wrote in a Facebook update on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Story continues below this ad<\/p>\n

It was a volunteer search-and-rescue group that found Weston\u2019s body later that day.<\/p>\n

Who was Weston Higginbotham?<\/p>\n

Weston was a junior at Auburn University in Alabama studying biosystems engineering, a programme within the College of Agriculture focused on the sustainability of natural systems. He was a Spain Park High School graduate from Birmingham, Alabama, and had previously hiked the Pyrenees mountains in Europe alone, his mother told CNN.<\/p>\n

His sister Hailey had described him as a devoted family member who often went exploring solo. Nancy Higginbotham had said her son, who lost his father to a heart condition, hoped to become a healthcare professional and wanted to help people suffering from heart-related illnesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt runs in the family \u2014 they often go mountain biking, hiking and white water rafting together,\u201d Nancy said.<\/p>\n

Story continues below this ad<\/p>\n

US State Department, FBI, Alabama officials involved<\/p>\n

Throughout the search, the Higginbothams thanked Japanese police, US diplomats, FBI agents, and Alabama officials for their efforts. A US State Department<\/a> spokesperson had told reporters earlier in the search that the department has \u201cno higher priority than the safety of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s thanks<\/p>\n

Following the discovery of Weston\u2019s body, the family thanked those who had shared their story and aided in the search.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe outpouring of kindness and support has carried us through the darkest days of our lives,\u201d the family wrote on Facebook. \u201cThank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support. We will need them now more than ever. We will always love you, Weston.\u201d<\/p>\n

(With inputs from CNN, WAFF, ABC News and NBC News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The body of James \u201cWeston\u201d Higginbotham, the 20-year-old Auburn University student who walked away from his family in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[36632,15959,36625,36628,36620,35751,36635,580,36623,36627,36100,36624,36097,36622,36630,36631,36621,157,36633,36634,36053,36626,36629],"class_list":["post-64778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-ai-environmental-impact-protest","tag-ai-use","tag-alabama-student","tag-american-tourist-found-dead-japan","tag-auburn-university-student","tag-auburn-university-student-missing","tag-biosystems-engineering-auburn-university","tag-chatgpt","tag-chatgpt-argument","tag-chatgpt-family-argument","tag-family-vacation","tag-found-dead","tag-james-weston-higginbotham","tag-kyoto-disappearance","tag-kyoto-yamashina-ku-hiking","tag-life360-location-tracking-app","tag-missing-in-japan","tag-openai","tag-private-search-and-rescue-japan","tag-us-state-department-tourist-missing-japan","tag-weston-higginbotham","tag-weston-higginbotham-kyoto","tag-weston-higginbotham-search"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}