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Florida Expands OpenAI Criminal Probe to USF Murders After Suspect’s ChatGPT Use Cited

The move tests whether an AI developer can be held liable when a chatbot’s answers are used to plan violent crimes.

Overview

  • Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who opened a criminal probe of OpenAI on April 21 tied to the 2025 FSU shooting, said Monday he is adding the USF killings after court records showed the suspect used ChatGPT.
  • Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, is charged with two counts of first‑degree murder and related felonies, and a judge ordered him held without bond at a Tuesday hearing.
  • Prosecutors say Abugharbieh asked ChatGPT in mid‑April about disposing of a body, guns, changing a car’s VIN, whether neighbors would hear a gun, and the meaning of a “missing endangered adult.”
  • Investigators report blood throughout the shared apartment, trash bags and duct tape under the suspect’s bed, victims’ items in a trash compactor, surveillance and phone data near the Howard Frankland Bridge, and a second body recovered nearby that has not yet been identified.
  • The Office of Statewide Prosecution subpoenaed OpenAI for internal safety policies and law‑enforcement cooperation procedures dating to March 2024, as OpenAI says it is cooperating and not responsible under a liability theory Florida is testing that treats those who aid a crime as principals; state lawmakers are also set to debate new AI guardrails this week.