Florida prosecutors launch a criminal probe into whether OpenAI’s ChatGPT aided a mass shooter, testing state laws on abetting crimes.
MIAMI: Florida has announced a criminal investigation into whether OpenAI’s ChatGPT played a role in a deadly mass shooting at Florida State University last year.
State Attorney General James Uthmeier said the probe follows a review of exchanges between the chatbot and the suspected gunman.
“If ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder,” Uthmeier stated in a release.
Florida law allows anyone who aids, abets, or counsels in a crime to be treated as an “aider and abettor” with equal responsibility.
Specific details of the exchange between the gunman and the AI have not been publicly disclosed.
An OpenAI spokesperson rejected the assertion that ChatGPT was responsible for the crime.
“ChatGPT provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources on the internet,” the spokesperson said.
The company added that it did not encourage harmful activity and provided the linked account to police after learning of the shooting.
The shooting allegedly carried out by Phoenix Ikner left two men dead and six others injured.
Authorities said Ikner, the son of a local deputy sheriff, used her old service weapon during the rampage.
He was eventually shot by local law enforcement and hospitalized with serious injuries.
Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil said Ikner was a student and had participated in sheriff’s office training programs.
Bystander footage aired by CNN appeared to show a young man shooting at people trying to flee.
Mass shootings remain common in the United States, where gun rights often override calls for stricter controls.
This persists despite widespread public support for tighter firearms regulations.
