Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Tuesday that his office is expanding its criminal investigation into OpenAI to include the University of South Florida killings of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, after court records showed the suspect asked ChatGPT questions about how to dispose of a body.
Uthmeier’s announcement comes one day after the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office recovered human remains from Tampa Bay near the I-275 Howard Frankland Bridge and 4th Street North.
The remains have not been identified, but were found near the area where first responders have been searching for Bristy, who disappeared and is believed to have been killed along with Limon by 26-year-old Hisham Abugharbieh. Limon’s remains were previously found in the same vicinity.
In a post on social media on Monday, Uthmeier announced plans to expand his ongoing investigation into how ChatGPT could have been used to aid criminals during recent cases. Uthmeier linked to an article by CBS Miami reporting that court documents showed Abugharbieh asked ChatGPT questions about disposing of a body in the days leading up to the crime, along with his post.
“We are expanding our criminal investigation into OpenAI to include the USF murders after learning the primary suspect used ChatGPT,” Uthmeier posted on Monday.
The investigation against Abugharbieh came to a head on the morning of April 24, when deputies responded to an unrelated domestic violence incident in the 1400 block of Pine Glen Circle. Abugharbieh barricaded himself inside the residence, prompting the activation of specialized units including SWAT, the bomb disposal team, the crisis negotiations team and the drone response team.
Abugharbieh was ultimately arrested on charges of unlawfully holding or moving a dead human body in unapproved conditions, failure to report a death to a medical examiner or law enforcement (intent to conceal), tampering with physical evidence, false imprisonment and battery, according to a Sheriff’s Office press release.
Uthmeier first announced the investigation into ChatGPT during a news conference in Tampa on April 21 over suspicion that the platform assisted Phoenix Ikner in planning a mass shooting in 2025 at Florida State University that killed 2 and injured 6.
“If ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder,” Uthmeier said at the April 21 news conference. “This criminal investigation will determine whether OpenAI bears criminal responsibility for ChatGPT’s actions in the Florida State University shooting last year.”
Uthmeier has targeted OpenAI in a series of social media posts since the announcement. On Sunday, he criticized the platform for creating child sex abuse material, and “advising kids on how to hurt themselves and commit suicide, and carry out heinous crimes.”