Florida on Tuesday announced a criminal probe into whether artificial intelligence (AI) played a role in a deadly mass shooting at a university.
The decision came after prosecutors reviewed exchanges between OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT and the suspected shooter, who opened fire at Florida State University last year, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said.
“If ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder,” Uthmeier said.
Photo: AFP
Florida law allows anyone who assists or counsels someone in the commission of a crime to be treated as an “aider and abettor” bearing the same responsibility as the perpetrator, he said.
In exchanges with ChatGPT, the suspect sought advice on what type of gun and ammunition to use, as well as where and when on campus a lot of people would likely be found, the state attorney general told a news conference.
An OpenAI spokesperson said that ChatGPT was not responsible, adding that the company identified the account linked to the suspected shooter and provided it to police after learning of the shooting.
Two men were killed and six other people injured in the mass shooting allegedly carried out by the son of a local deputy sheriff with her old service weapon, authorities said.
The suspect — identified as 18-year-old Phoenix Ikner — rampaged through Florida State University, shooting at students before he was shot, but not killed, by local law enforcement.
“We recognize that here with AI, we are venturing into uncharted territory,” Uthmeier said. “But we need to know whether or not OpenAI has criminal liability.”
Prosecutors would dig into how much OpenAI knew about the potential for “dangerous behavior” involving ChatGPT and what could have been done to mitigate that risk, he said.
“We cannot have AI bots that are advising people on how to kill others,” he said.
OpenAI already faces lawsuits filed by families who charge that ChatGPT caused harm and even suicide among loved ones.
Litigation accuses OpenAI of blurring the line between tool and companion in the name of increasing user engagement and market share, Social Media Victims Law Center founding attorney Matthew Bergman said.
“They prioritized market dominance over mental health, engagement metrics over human safety and emotional manipulation over ethical design,” Bergman wrote on the law group’s Web site. “The cost of those choices is measured in lives.”
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