Uthmeier wants penalties for corporations with AI chatbots that contribute to crimes

Florida Phoenix · Mitch Perry · September 8, 2026

A young woman asks AI companion ChatGPT for help in New York City. States are pushing to prevent the use of artificially intelligent chatbots in mental health to try to protect vulnerable users. (Photo by Shalina Chatlani/Stateline) Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier called Tuesday for legislation imposing criminal penalties for corporations running chatbots that engage in criminal activity.

Acknowledging you “can’t lock up a company behind bars,” the AG said in Tampa on Tuesday that his office is looking into the extent of involvement of corporate executives in chatbot behavior.

“What designs? What intentionality was there? How aware were they of the behaviors of the crimes that took place? How involved were they?” he said.

Uthmeier’s comments came three months after he announced legal action against OpenAI and its chief executive officer, Sam Altman, alleging the company knowingly released and aggressively marketed ChatGPT to the public — including to children — while concealing “serious risks, suppressing internal safety warnings, and deceiving Floridians about the true nature and dangers of the product.”

That came after prosecutors reviewed chat logs between ChatGPT and Phoenix Ikner, the accused gunman in the April 17, 2025, shootings at Florida State University. Two people were killed, fathers who worked on that campus, and six more were shot.

Those chat logs revealed that in the hours and minutes leading to that attack, Ikner asked ChatGPT a series of probing questions, including what was the busiest time on campus, how Florida punishes school shooters, and how many victims are required to gain media attention.

Uthmeier said that while it was wrong for chatbots to provide specific information, at the very least those questions should have sparked a red flag to 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.”

The fact that did not happen despite the company’s employment of some of the smartest data scientists in the world “is wrong,” he said,

Uthmeier’s office expanded it investigation into OpenAI in April to include the murders of two University of South Florida doctoral students after learning the primary suspect used ChatGPT.

The proposed legislation has not been drafted yet, but Uthmeier imagines penalties could include heavy fines, payments to victims, court-ordered monitorship, and possibly suspension of business activity in the state.

He will call on the Florida Board of Medicine to investigate AL chatbots for unlawful practice of medicine by giving medical advice, he added.

OpenAI laid out a “commitment to community safety” in a statement issued in April. “We will continue to prioritize safety while balancing privacy and other civil liberties so we can act on serious risks,” the company said.

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