Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has announced his office is launching a criminal investigation and issuing subpoenas into the AI platform ChatGPT and its parent company OpenAI.
The investigation is focused on claims that the accused gunman in shooting on Florida State University’s campus last year consulted ChatGPT before killing two people and injuring five more.
Uthmeier said during a Tuesday press conference an initial review of chat logs shows that accused gunman Phoenix Ikner consulted ChatGPT for advice, including what type of gun to use, what ammo went with it, and what time to go to campus to encounter more people.
“My prosecutors have looked at this and they've told me, if it was a person on the other end of that screen, we would be charging them with murder,” he said.
During press questions, Uthmeier acknowledged the investigation is entering into uncharted territory and is uncertain about whether OpenAI has criminal liability.
“We will certainly be looking at company personnel and officials that were active in the design, that are active in the regulation of this technology, that are active in the internal policies and guidelines were at the beginning. So, I don't know what the intentions of design were. I don't know what people knew and at what time, but I hope that we are able to get those answers,” he said.
Kate Waters, an OpenAI spokesperson, said in a written statement that the FSU shooting was a tragedy, but OpenAI is not responsible. She said the company proactively shared the information about the alleged shooter's account with law enforcement and continues to cooperate 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," she wrote. "ChatGPT is a general-purpose tool used by hundreds of millions of people every day for legitimate purposes. We work continuously to strengthen our safeguards to detect harmful intent, limit misuse, and respond appropriately when safety risks arise."
The gunman's trial is set to begin on Oct. 19.