If an AI has mutable memory, and could be convinced to damage its memory in such a way that it no longer acts usefully (or does so by accident), is that functio

If an AI has mutable memory, and could be convinced to damage its memory in such a way that it no longer acts usefully (or does so by accident), is that functionally different from "death"? This doesn't really apply to GPT, where the core functionality is immutable.