OPENAI ISSUED SUBPOENAS AMID CRIMINAL PROBE BY FLORIDA STATE
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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has launched a criminal investigation into OpenAI, issuing subpoenas on Tuesday morning. The probe focuses on the company’s protocols for handling user threats of harm to themselves or others. This newly announced criminal case will proceed alongside an ongoing civil investigation into the artificial intelligence firm, marking a significant escalation in the state's legal scrutiny of the company.
On April 9, Uthmeier announced he would launch an investigation into OpenAI and its ChatGPT tool over national security and safety concerns. Among other concerns, he is investigating whether ChatGPT provided any planning assistance to the alleged gunman in the Florida State University mass shooting that left two people dead in April last year.
“We have been looking into the recent FSU shooting, and that shooter’s communications with ChatGPT,” Uthmeier said in a press conference Tuesday morning. “Our review of that communication has revealed that a criminal investigation is necessary.”
“ChatGPT offered significant advice to the shooter before he committed such heinous crimes,” Uthmeier said, adding “that the chatbot advised the shooter on what type of gun to use, on which ammo went with which gun, on whether or not a gun would be useful in short range.”
“If this were a person on the other side of the screen, we would be charging them with murder,” Uthmeier said. “We cannot have AI bots that are advising others on how to kill others.”






