Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Thursday that his office plans to investigate OpenAI over ChatGPT’s alleged role in a fatal shooting last year.
In April 2025, a gunman opened fire on the campus of Florida State University, killing two people and injuring five. Last week, lawyers for one of the shooting victims he claimed that ChatGPT was used to plan the attack. The victim’s family says yes they plan to sue OpenAI over this incident.
“Artificial intelligence should advance humanity, not destroy it,” Uthmeier said in a statement sent to X. “We demand answers about OpenAI’s actions that harmed children, endangered Americans, and facilitated the recent mass shooting at FSU. The perpetrators must be held accountable.” Uthmeier added in the video that “subpoenas will be received” as part of the investigation.
ChatGPT has been linked to a growing number of deaths and violent incidents – including murders, suicides and shootings – and has increased concerns about the emergence of what psychologists call it “AI psychosis”, delusions that are reinforced, encouraged or deepened by communication with chatbots.
According to the Wall Street Journal, for example, Stein-Erik Soelberg, a man suffering from mental health problems, regularly contacted ChatGPT before he killed his mother and then himself last year. investigation. The chatbot often seemed to do this reinforce paranoid thoughts what consumed him in the run-up to the murder-suicide.
When reached for comment by TechCrunch, an OpenAI spokesperson released the following statement: “Every week, more than 900 million people operate ChatGPT to improve their everyday lives through uses such as learning up-to-date skills or navigating intricate healthcare systems. Our ongoing security work continues to play an crucial role in bringing these benefits to everyday people, as well as supporting scientific research and discovery. We are building ChatGPT to understand people’s intentions and respond in protected and appropriate ways, and we are constantly improving our technology. We will cooperate with the investigation Prosecutor General.”
The Florida investigation continues a string of bad luck for OpenAI. AND New Yorker profile about Sam Altman published earlier this week showed criticism and dissatisfaction within the company and among its investors, even quoting a Microsoft executive as he said: “I think there is a small but real chance that he will eventually be remembered as a fraud on the level of Bernie Madoff or Sam Bankman Fried.” Meanwhile, there is a Stargate project in the UK it had to be stoppedapparently due to high energy costs and regulations.
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