{"id":14681,"date":"2026-04-23T21:56:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/14681\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T21:56:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:56:17","slug":"ai-ethicist-weighs-in-on-florida-attorney-generals-investigation-into-chatgpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/14681\/","title":{"rendered":"AI ethicist weighs in on Florida Attorney General\u2019s investigation into ChatGPT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"160\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4f4ceaeef9cf3177e897c0d63331c5c7.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>AI ethicist weighs in on Florida Attorney General\u2019s investigation into ChatGPT<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">State prosecutors are working to figure out what role ChatGPT may have played in a deadly mass shooting at Florida State University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On Tuesday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened a criminal investigation into OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT over whether the artificial intelligence platform offered advice to <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/florida-state-shooting-what-to-know-d444a6ee8f31024f83f0ee320acf7339\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:a suspected gunman who killed;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">a suspected gunman who killed<\/a> two people and wounded six others last year at Florida State University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He also urged lawmakers to crack down on AI\u2019s use in criminal behaviors and asked them to implement \u201cprotections to safeguard our children from the dangers of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Uthmeier said prosecutors had reviewed chat logs between ChatGPT and the suspected FSU gunman and found the chatbot advised the suspect on what type of gun and ammunition to use and which locations would allow for the most potential victims.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It\u2019s not the only time investigators say artificial intelligence has been used nefariously.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Volusia County Sheriff\u2019 Mike Chitwood said 31-year-old <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/news\/local\/man-accused-shooting-volusia-county-deputy-seeks-block-his-confession-court\/4ALQZRX5MNFVJOO4PMXL43O44I\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Luis Diaz Polanco shot a Volusia County deputy;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Luis Diaz Polanco shot a Volusia County deputy<\/a>, just weeks after asking AI about stand your ground laws.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/news\/local\/ai-chatbot-firm-settles-lawsuit-after-florida-teens-suicide\/VXPRUQBVSBHBVJSMCWAASDQUOE\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:now settled lawsuit;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">now settled lawsuit <\/a>also alleges 14-year-old Sewell Setzer died by suicide after becoming addicted to his relationship with an AI chat bot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">AI ethics researcher Dr. Chrissann Ruehle with Florida Gulf Coast University told Channel 9 many AI companies are still in an exploratory phase.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWe\u2019re figuring out the boundaries of how AI can be used, in this case, in very nefarious ways. And it takes getting to the legal system for the tech providers in order to respond,\u201d said Ruehle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">She says most platforms are reacting to new nefarious uses. Developers are looking at that language used by users who commit crimes. They are building up keyword based systems to flag harmful prompts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cBased on its prediction model, if it predicts this person is looking to potentially perform a mass shooting, then at that point, it can issue a flag,\u201d said Ruehle, \u201cObviously it\u2019s going to send the flag to the user, but what happens internally within OpenAI?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ruehle told Channel 9 AI companies should all have ethics codes, a code of conduct, and a mechanism in place to investigate nefarious use of the technology.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThey need to have an infrastructure in place in order to support these types of incidents when they come in. And I think it\u2019s so new for them. I\u2019m not sure that they have that yet,\u201d said Ruehle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">As part of the state\u2019s criminal investigation of Chat GPT, prosecutors have subpoenaed Open AI\u2019s policies and internal training materials regarding users who threaten to harm themselves or others.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ruehle says that information will allow the state to discover what infrastructure does exist and how the technology is self-policing itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Click here;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:click here;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n<p><a data-ylk=\"ct:story;elm:img;itc:0;\" class=\"stretched-box\" href=\"https:\/\/wftvapps.com\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"537\" height=\"108\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776981377_912_beda08358d6db9816e7b0d066edd22cf.jpeg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AI ethicist weighs in on Florida Attorney General\u2019s investigation into ChatGPT State prosecutors are working to figure out&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[25,580,11116,7842,8776,8870,8777,157,5905],"class_list":{"0":"post-14681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-openai","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-chatgpt","10":"tag-chrissann-ruehle","11":"tag-criminal-investigation","12":"tag-florida-attorney-general","13":"tag-florida-state-university","14":"tag-james-uthmeier","15":"tag-openai","16":"tag-volusia-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}