Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened an investigation into OpenAI over whether the company “bears criminal responsibility” for a shooting at Florida State University last year.
The attorney general’s office said it is investigating whether OpenAI’s ChatGPT helped the suspect, Phoenix Ikner, carry out the crime.
“If that bot were a person, they would be charged with a principal in first-degree murder,” Uthmeier said at a press conference on Tuesday. “ChatGPT offered significant advice to the shooter before he committed such heinous crimes.”
Ikner is accused of killing two people and injuring six others on FSU’s campus on April 17, 2025. He has pled