Florida is sending criminal subpoenas to OpenAI, opening a novel investigation into whether a chatbot could be criminally liable for use in a mass shooting.
The announcement came 11 days after statewide prosecutors said they were probing a shooter’s use of ChatGPT to plan and carry out an attack last spring at Florida State University that killed two people.
“If that bot were a person they’d be charged with a principal in first degree murder,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) said during a Tuesday press conference.
The shooter sought advice from ChatGPT on what weapon to use, what ammo to fire, and where he could find the most people to kill on campus, Uthmeier said.
The state is demanding police and chatbot training materials that touch on threats to users, threats to others, and company policies over cooperation with law enforcement, as well as information from the shooter. Subpoenas will be sent today, but the Florida Attorney General’s office said the documents weren’t available yet.
“Technology is supposed to help mankind, it’s supposed to support mankind. Not end it,” Uthmeier said, adding that the state will look to potentially charge individuals at OpenAI depending on what they find.