Florida Opens Criminal Probe Into ChatGPT After Shooting

Florida is going after ChatGPT over a deadly campus shooting last year. The state's attorney general on Tuesday said he has opened a criminal investigation after reviewing conversations between the AI chatbot and the former Florida State University student accused of killing two people and injuring six others near the campus student union last April, reports NBC News.

"ChatGPT offered significant advice to the shooter," said Attorney General James Uthmeier, including on what type of gun and ammo to use. "If this were a person on the other side of the screen, we would be charging them with murder," he said. "We cannot have AI bots that are advising others on how to kill others." The state had previously opened a civil investigation, and the family of one of the victims plans to sue the bot's creator, OpenAI.

Uthmeier conceded that applying criminal law to a company and its AI product is new territory, notes the New York Times. His office plans to subpoena OpenAI for internal policies and training materials on handling threats of harm. OpenAI has previously said that it is cooperating and that it designs ChatGPT to respond "in a safe and appropriate way." The inquiry unfolds as Gov. Ron DeSantis pushes new state limits on artificial intelligence.