On April 17, 2025, a student at Florida State University began firing a gun outside the campus student union. After three minutes of shooting, two people were dead and six injured. The accused gunman was shot and killed by police.
Following the investigation, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said at an April 21st press conference in Tampa that prior to tragedy, the shooter had consulted with AI provider ChatGPT, asking for advice on what kind of gun to use and when and where to carry out an attack to produce the most victims. Uthmeier also announced he was opening an investigation into ChatGPT and its parent company, Open AI, to determine whether they may have played a role in the shooting. This week, he said the investigation has expanded after the suspect was found to have used ChatGPT to ask questions about how to get away with murder.
Currently, artificial intelligence developers are loosely regulated under a patchwork of state, federal, and international guidelines. At the national level, the Trump Administration has said AI regulation should be at the federal level. In Tallahassee, Governor DeSantis has been proposing an AI Bill of Rights for consumers that would restrict use by minors, require greater transparency, and create avenues for legal liability in the industry. The bill was presented in the legislative session this year, but it didn’t go anywhere. The Governor called for lawmakers to revive it during the special session this week. On Tuesday, the Speaker of the House, Republican Daniel Perez, removed AI regulations from the special session docket.
The developments raise questions about accountability when AI is used in ways that contribute to harm. Joining Engage to tackle the legal and ethical implications of Artificial Intelligence are Darryl Scriven, the Director of Florida A&M University’s Centers and Institutes and the former head of FAMU’s Cyber Policy Institute, and Jonathan Beever, the Co-Founder and Director of the UCF Center for Ethics and the Co-Director of the Undergraduate Certificate Program in AI, Big Data, and Human Impacts.
