Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a criminal investigation into OpenAI on Tuesday, arguing ChatGPT may have done more than reflect the thinking of the accused Florida State University shooter and instead may have helped him plan the 2025 attack.
The move marks a legally untested escalation in the state’s response to the shooting, which killed two people and injured at least six others. Uthmeier said prosecutors reviewed chat logs tied to accused gunman Phoenix Ikner and concluded the exchanges raised questions about whether OpenAI could bear criminal responsibility for the chatbot’s conduct.
“If it was a person on the other end of that screen, we would be charging them with murder,” Uthmeier said at a press conference in Tampa. “Just because this is a chat bot, an AI does not mean that there is not criminal culpability.”…