Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said he has opened a criminal investigation into OpenAI to see if its chatbot, ChatGPT, helped a man commit a mass shooting at Florida State University last year.
Uthmeier alleged the chatbot “offered significant advice” to Phoenix Ikner before he opened fire on students at FSU, killing two and injuring six others. The attorney general said some questions Ikner asked ChatGPT concerned firearms and which were best for short-range use.
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“If this were a person on the other side of the screen, we would be charging them with murder,” Uthmeier said during a press conference, NBC News reported. “We cannot have AI bots that are advising others on how to kill others.”
How do you investigate a chatbot?
The New York Times reported that the Uthmeier’s office gathered hundreds of messages between Ikner and ChatGPT. One interaction was Ikner asking the chatbot how the country would react to a shooting at FSU and what times were the busiest at the student union, where the shooting happened.
Uthmeier first announced he had opened an investigation into OpenAI on April 9, before Tuesday’s announcement. He said the civil investigation remains ongoing as the criminal one begins, The Times reported.
“We have been looking into the recent FSU shooting, and that shooter’s communications with ChatGPT,” Uthmeier said. “Our review of that communication has revealed that a criminal investigation is necessary.”
Besides messages, Uthmeier’s office is also requesting that OpenAI hand over all information about its policies and training regarding threats by users towards themselves or others. This includes materials regarding how the company cooperates with law enforcement agencies, according to NBC News.
“I’m a big believer in limited government,” Uthmeier said. “I believe government should only interfere in business activities when you have significant harm to our people. This is that.”
OpenAI’s response
OpenAI has introduced new features that it said would focus on user safety, especially for children. The changes came after the company faced major scrutiny, including a lawsuit that alleged ChatGPT encouraged a teenager to take their own life. OpenAI received further scrutiny during a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In response to Florida’s investigation, the company said the shooting was tragic, but ChatGPT was “not responsible for this terrible crime.”
“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,” OpenAI spokesperson Kate Waters told NBC News.
OpenAI said earlier this month that it would cooperate with Uthmeither’s investigation.
“Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this devastating tragedy,” the company said after Uthmeier announced his previous investigation. “We build ChatGPT to understand people’s intent and respond in a safe and appropriate way, and we continue improving our technology.”
