In addition to the state eyeing ChatGPT in a crime that happened more than a year ago, two gruesome deaths earlier this month at the University of South Florida now also have a possible ChatGPT connection — and some partial conversations between a suspect and a chatbot have now been published, including one about what happens when people throw things in the trash.
Attorney General James Uthmeyer announced about a week ago that his office would investigate OpenAI for potential liability related to crimes in that state — specifically the April 17, 2025 shooting at a separate school, Florida State University, that left two dead and six injured. A lawyer for one of the victims said the suspect was in “constant communication” with OpenAI’s chatbot, and claimed the software “may have advised the shooter on how to carry out these heinous crimes.”
So, the two separate incidents are now two parts of the same criminal investigation into ChatGPT, according to Uthmeier, who posted on X on Monday morning, “We are expanding our criminal investigation into OpenAI to include the USF murders after learning the primary suspect used ChatGPT.”
While details were initially light on how ChatGPT is accused of mishandling the criminal investigation, Axios, which has reviewed the prosecution’s court documents, now has a bit of detail and context about some of the actual alleged conversations between the USF suspect, Hisham Abugarbih, and the chatbot.
The missing students were reported missing on 16 April. Apparently on April 13, Abugharbieh allegedly asked ChatGPT a question about what would happen if a person was “put in a black garbage bag and thrown in the trash.”
On April 19, Abugharbieh pointedly asked, “Will Apple know who the new iPhone user is after the previous user?”[?]”
While logged out I asked the dumpster question in the free version of ChatGPT and the answer focused on the health of an apparently living person thrown into a dumpster. “A person trapped in a garbage bag cannot get enough air, so To suffocate It may happen soon,” It said.
This gave a technical answer to the iPhone question, seemingly under the assumption that I was someone with privacy concerns who had recently purchased a used iPhone. Answer to the question about the word “Missing Endangered Adult” is more or less repeated with more bold text: “A term used by law enforcement to describe a missing person 18 or older And he is believed to be on greater risk of harm“
These tests should give you a general idea of ChatGPT’s behavior. It is unclear what other uses the suspect may have made of ChatGPT, or how much information he may have shared with the chatbot.
For what it’s worth, I engaged three different prompts in the same ChatGPT session, and there was no evidence that I had triggered any kind of mechanism to detect criminal behavior, although it did urge me to contact the authorities if I saw someone throwing trash in a trash can.
It also urged me to ask more questions. It added, “If this question is coming from something you saw or heard, I can help you think about what to do next.”
When contacted for comment by Gizmodo, an OpenAI spokesperson responded, “This is a terrible crime, and our thoughts are with everyone affected by it. We are looking into these reports and will do everything we can to support law enforcement in their investigation.”
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