Florida AG expands OpenAI criminal probe over USF murders
SkimNews Take
The investigation into ChatGPT's alleged role in a murder highlights how the legal system is now grappling with the novel challenge of assigning responsibility when AI tools are implicated in criminal acts.
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- Florida AG James Uthmeier said Monday his office is expanding its criminal investigation into OpenAI to include the USF student murders, escalating from a civil probe he launched earlier this month that had already cited ChatGPT's alleged role in a 2025 Florida State University mass shooting.
- Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, is held without bail on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of USF doctoral students Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, both 27 and from Bangladesh, who were last heard from on April 16.
- Court records allege Abugharbieh asked ChatGPT on April 13 what happens if someone is "put in a black garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster," then returned to the chatbot in the following days with questions about guns and about whether Apple tracks a new iPhone's user.
- Limon's remains were found Friday in trash bags on the Howard Frankland Bridge; a second body was recovered Sunday in waters near Interstate 275 and Fourth Street North, though authorities had not publicly identified the second victim as of Monday afternoon.
- Uthmeier said in a prior release that "if ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder," and Florida lawmakers are set to take up AI regulation during a special session that starts Tuesday.
- OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri called the killings "a terrible crime," said the company is "looking into these reports," and pledged to "support law enforcement in their investigation."
Why it matters: Uthmeier is now connecting two separate violent incidents — the 2025 FSU mass shooting and the USF murders — to build a criminal case that an AI company's chatbot played a contributory role, a novel legal theory. With Florida's special legislative session on AI regulation opening Tuesday, the investigation's timing gives state lawmakers a fresh flashpoint to anchor potential new accountability rules for AI firms operating in the state.
