Florida launches criminal probe into OpenAI, ChatGPT over deadly shooting

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WASHINGTON – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said on Tuesday the state was launching a criminal probe into OpenAI and its artificial intelligence app ChatGPT over a deadly shooting last year that killed two people at Florida State University.

A gunman killed two people and wounded six others at Florida State University in April last year before he was shot by officers and hospitalized. The suspect was charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.

“The chatbot advised the shooter on what type of gun to use, on which ammo went with which gun, on whether or not a gun would be useful at short range,” Uthmeier said in a press briefing.

“If it was a person on the other end of that screen, we would be charging them with murder.”

Uthmeier’s office said the investigation will determine whether “OpenAI bears criminal responsibility for ChatGPT’s actions in the shooting.”

The Office of Statewide Prosecution subpoenaed OpenAI for some information and records, it added.

The rise of AI has fed a host of concerns ranging from worries that electricity demand by data centers could raise power prices for consumers, to fears that the technology could cost workers their jobs or be used to disrupt the democratic process, turbocharge fraud or help people plan criminal activities.

An OpenAI spokeswoman told U.S. media that the shooting was a tragedy but the company had no responsibility. The spokeswoman said that after learning of the incident, OpenAI identified a ChatGPT account believed to be associated with the suspect and “proactively shared this information with law enforcement.”

“In this case, ChatGPT provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources on the internet, and it did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activity,” the OpenAI spokeswoman said.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by David Gregorio.