OpenAI is again under scrutiny after facing a criminal investigation in the US.
The investigation is focused on whether OpenAi’s ChatGPT technology played a role in the killing of two people during last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer said Tuesday that his office is investigating the use of an artificial intelligence AI chatbot by a man who allegedly shot several people at a campus in Tallahassee.
“Our review has shown that a criminal investigation is necessary,” Uthmeyer said. “ChatGPT provided valuable advice to this shooter before he committed such a heinous crime.”
A spokesperson for OpenAI said: “ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime.”
This appears to be the first time that OpenAI is under criminal investigation over the use of ChatGPT by someone who has allegedly committed a crime.
An OpenAI spokesperson said the company has cooperated with authorities and that it has “actively shared information about a ChatGPT account believed to be linked to the suspect”.
OpenAI was co-founded by Sam Altman. He and the company became among the most famous names in the technology industry in 2022 following the release of ChatGPT, which is now one of the most widely used AI tools in the world.
As for when the suspect, 20-year-old FSU student Phoenix Ikner, who is now in jail awaiting trial, interacted with ChatGPT, an OpenAI spokesperson said the chatbot “did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activity.”
“In this case, ChatGPT provided factual answers to questions with information that could be found in widely public sources on the Internet.”
However, Uthmeyer said that ChatGPT “advised the shooter on what type of gun to use” and the type of ammunition.
ChatGPT also advised the shooter about “what time of day…and where on campus the shooter might encounter a larger population,” he said.
“My prosecutors have looked at it, and they told me that if it had been a person on the other end of that screen, we would have charged them with murder,” Uthmeyer said.
He said that, under Florida law, anyone who “aids, abets, or advises” someone in committing or attempting to commit a crime is considered a “principal” in the crime.
While ChatGPT is not believed to be an individual, Uthmeier said his office needs to determine “criminal culpability” for the company behind the bot, OpenAI.
The company is already facing a lawsuit over another incident in which its chatbot may have been a factor.
Earlier this year, an 18-year-old man shot and killed nine people and injured two dozen others in British Columbia.
OpenAI said that after the incident, it identified and banned the shooter’s account based on his usage, but did not refer the matter to the police. The company has said that it intends to strengthen its security measures.
The parents of a young girl injured in the attack filed a lawsuit against the company.
Last year, a coalition of 42 state attorneys general sent a letter to 13 tech companies with AI chatbots, including OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic.
The letter outlined their concerns over the rise in use of AI by people “who do not realize the dangers they may face” and called for “robust safety testing, recall procedures and clear warnings to consumers”.
Additionally, the letter also cites the increasing number of “tragedies across the country”, including murders and suicides, which apparently involve some use of AI.
