Florida's attorney general is pushing for a way to hold AI companies accountable after prosecutors reviewed ChatGPT conversations preceding an Apr. 17, 2025, shooting at Florida State University.
The proposal could pave the way for fines, victim compensation, and even restrictions on a company's operations in the state if lawmakers determine chatbot firms crossed a legal line, according to the Florida Phoenix.
Here's what to know
On Sept. 8, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier signaled that he wants legislation creating criminal penalties for corporations whose chatbots facilitate criminal behavior.
He also said his office was examining how much responsibility company executives may bear for their chatbots' outputs.
Noting that officials "can't lock up a company behind bars," Uthmeier raised questions about executives' culpability in cases involving chatbots.
"What [were the] designs? What intentionality was there? How aware were they of the behaviors of the crimes that took place? How involved were they?" he stated, per the Florida Phoenix.
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The comments came after Uthmeier announced legal action against OpenAI and its chief executive officer, Sam Altman, months earlier.
In that action, the state maintained that the company knowingly released ChatGPT for public use and heavily promoted it — including to children — while concealing "serious risks, suppressing internal safety warnings, and deceiving Floridians about the true nature and dangers of the product," the Florida Phoenix reported.
Prosecutors reviewed ChatGPT exchanges involving Phoenix Ikner, who is accused in the Florida State University shootings.
The conversations showed that shortly before the attack, Ikner asked about the busiest time on campus, how Florida punishes school shooters, and how many victims it takes to attract media attention.
Two men, both fathers, died in the shooting, and six others were wounded.
More background
Uthmeier said the concern went beyond a chatbot supplying harmful information and extended to whether those exchanges should have triggered intervention.
In his view, the questions posed to the bot should have tipped law enforcement, "to alert them to these very specific things that are being discussed, to alert our very brave men and women in uniform about what's going on so they can make their own criminal threat assessment."
According to the Florida Phoenix, his office also broadened its April probe to cover the killings of two University of South Florida doctoral students after investigators learned the main suspect had used ChatGPT.
What's being done?
The measure Uthmeier described is still unwritten, but he noted that the possible consequences could include large fines, victim payments, court-ordered monitorship, and even a suspension of business activity in Florida.
He also described plans to ask the Florida Board of Medicine to examine whether AI chatbots are practicing medicine unlawfully by offering medical advice.
OpenAI, for its part, acknowledged what it called a "commitment to community safety" in an April statement, the Florida Phoenix reported.
"We will continue to prioritize safety while balancing privacy and other civil liberties so we can act on serious risks," the firm stated.
Ultimately, Uthmeier maintained that the firm's alleged failure to develop such protections while employing many well-trained data scientists was "wrong."
Where can I learn more?
Uthmeier's push for penalties lands as concerns about AI keep widening — from how chatbots behave to what companies knew about the risks and when they should step in.
The coverage below explores the issue in depth: safety failures, unreliable answers, and a backlash building as these tools move deeper into everyday life.
• Across the tech sector, pushback may get brutal as AI strains jobs, water, and electricity.
• As for mental health support, AIs might be harmful if vulnerable users seek sensitive advice.
• In London, AI chatbots ignoring user instructions have raised fears of catastrophic harm.
• At Meta, plans for AI chatbots drew criticism over loneliness and emotional health.
Questions about AI accountability are no longer confined to one criminal case or one company. That's part of why lawmakers and regulators are under growing pressure to decide what obligations chatbot makers owe the public.
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