ChatDOA

 In the big book of frivolous lawsuits, this one just might not be.

The Florida Attorney General is opening a criminal investigation into Open AI. 

Not because someone used it to fake their resume, I'm looking at you Kevin Warsh. Nor is it because some undergrad used AI to fake a term paper linking Barbie to Wuthering Heights. 

But we're getting closer. 

Nope, instead the Attorney General's office is starting a probe to uncover just how much help ChatGPT gave the shooter at Florida State University a year ago. Two people died when a nutjob with a gun in the student union, wounding several more who were attempting to flee the scene. The alleged nutjob started his day by pointing a shotgun at a passerby in a parking garage. That weapon did not fire, so the alleged nutjob went back to his car to retrieve his mother's handgun. The carnage took place in the span of about ten minutes. Authorities shot and wounded the alleged nutjob three minutes after the first shot was fired. 

Pretty standard stuff, as school shootings go. However, the addition of Artificial Intelligence being involved makes this whole thing even uglier. “ChatGPT offered significant advice to the shooter before he committed such heinous crimes,” Attorney General James 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.” Uthmeier continued, “If this were a person on the other side of the screen, we would be charging them with murder.”

Meanwhile, OpenAI spokesperson Kate Waters said, “In this case, ChatGPT provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources on the internet, and it did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activity.” 

Ms. Waters did not say that ChatGPT tried to convince the alleged nutjob to seek professional help, or discourage his inquiries. The alleged nutjob was in communication with the chatbot just minutes before the shooting began. 

I used to think that Microsoft Word's Clippy was annoying. 

Now I miss Clippy. Those were simpler times. "It looks like you're writing a suicide note. Would you like some help with that?"