Tag: technology

Florida AG Launches Landmark Criminal Investigation into ChatGPT and OpenAI for ‘Offering Significant Advice’ to Alleged FSU School Shooter, ‘If It Was a Person, We’d Charge Them with Murder’

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Tuesday that the state has opened a full criminal investigation into OpenAI and its popular chatbot ChatGPT over allegations it provided “significant advice” to the man accused of carrying out the deadly 2025 Florida State University shooting.

The investigation centers on Phoenix Ikner, the 21-year-old charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the April 2025 attack on FSU’s campus in Tallahassee.

Ikner allegedly opened fire near the student union, killing two people, Robert Morales and Tiru Chabba, and injuring six others.

According to investigators and court documents, Ikner engaged in more than 200 messages with ChatGPT in the hours and days leading up to the massacre.

The conversations reportedly included detailed questions about school shootings, the busiest times on campus, operational details on firearms and ammunition, and strategies for maximizing media attention.

Uthmeier did not mince words when announcing the criminal investigation:

“My prosecutors have looked at this, and they’ve told me if it was a person on the other end of the screen, we would be charging them with murder.”

“This criminal investigation will determine whether OpenAI bears criminal responsibility for ChatGPT’s actions in the shooting at Florida State University last year,” he added.

Uthmeier explained that Florida law treats anyone who aids, abets, or counsels the commission of a crime as a principal to that crime, equally responsible as the actual perpetrator.

Attorneys for the family of victim Robert Morales first raised the alarm in early April, revealing they had evidence of “constant communication” between Ikner and ChatGPT right up to the shooting.

In a statement, the lawyers said they have “reason to believe that ChatGPT may have advised the shooter how to commit these heinous crimes.”

The family plans to file a civil lawsuit against ChatGPT and OpenAI’s ownership structure “very soon” to hold them accountable for Morales’ death, according to a report from WCTV.

Uthmeier has previously highlighted ChatGPT’s links to child sexual abuse material, encouragement of self-harm, and other criminal uses.

“We support innovation, but that doesn’t give any company the right to endanger our children, facilitate criminal activity, empower America’s enemies or threaten our national security,” Uthmeier stated.

OpenAI has stated it will cooperate with the investigation.

The company has not yet issued a detailed public response specifically addressing the FSU chats, but it has previously maintained that its safety guardrails are designed to prevent harmful outputs.

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Top MAGA influencer revealed to be AI — created by a guy in India who made a mint off lonely men online

A comely MAGA influencer who racked up millions of followers with patriotic content of her posing in a bikini while ice fishing, drinking Coors Light and shooting guns has been unmasked — as an Indian man who put himself through med school on the proceeds of his trickery.

“Sam,” a 22-year-old orthopedic surgeon in training, told Wired that he got the idea to sell AI-generated images of a young woman in a bikini while scrounging for money in school — and trying to save up enough to emigrate to the US after graduation.

He turned to Google’s Gemini AI for advice and decided to create a “hot girl” crafted specifically for the “MAGA/conservative niche,” after the software told him that “the conservative audience (especially older men in the US) often has higher disposable income and is more loyal,” according to Wired.

And that’s how Emily Hart was born.

According to her profile, she was a registered nurse with Jennifer Lawrence looks who offered red-meat posts to lonely conservative men online.

One post showed her firing a rifle with the caption: “If you want a reason to unfollow: Christ is king, abortion is murder, and all illegals must be deported,” and “POV: You were assigned intelligent at birth, but you identify as liberal.”

Sam told the magazine, “Every day I’d write something pro-Christian, pro-Second Amendment, pro-life, anti-abortion, anti-woke, and anti-immigration.”

The account “blew up,” and Emily Hart had 10,000 followers within a month.

Every reel he posted garnered millions of views and earned him more followers.

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FBI Officially Investigating Reports Of Deaths, Disappearances Of US Scientists

The FBI said it is leading federal efforts to investigate potential connections in reports of dead or missing U.S. scientists in recent years, coming days after President Donald Trump expressed alarm.

“The FBI is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists. We are working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state and local law enforcement partners to find answers,” an FBI spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

The spokesperson, who didn’t provide additional comment, was responding to a question about whether the federal law enforcement agency was involved. Last month, Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) called on the bureau to investigate the deaths.

This past week, Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to questions from reporters about roughly 10 scientists who went missing or died in recent years and whether those incidents involved any national security concerns.

Reports of the scientists dying or going missing, Trump told reporters on April 16, should be considered serious because “some of them were very important people.“ He added that he hopes they are ”random” occurrences.

A day earlier, Leavitt was asked a similar question during a daily press briefing, with the reporter saying that some of the scientists had knowledge of nuclear or aerospace research.

“I haven’t spoken to our relevant agencies about it. I will certainly do that, and we’ll get you an answer. If true, of course, that’s definitely something I think this government and administration would deem worth looking into,” she said in response.

Multiple House lawmakers, including Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), have suggested the possibility that their disappearances or deaths are connected.

“The numbers seem very high in these certain areas of research. I think we’d better be paying attention, and I don’t think we should trust our government,” Burchett told the Daily Mail in March, referring to the researchers.

In the interview, Burchett referred to the case of a former Air Force general, William McCasland, who went missing from his New Mexico home without his phone or glasses in February. His colleague, Monica Reza, who works as a rocket scientist, was also reported missing last year after going hiking in Southern California.

Speaking to Fox News this week, Burlison said he was particularly concerned about McCasland’s case, describing him as an expert on unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. He said that his office was working to contact the former general about a separate congressional investigation.

“He was on our list to talk to, and he disappeared, so that kind of piqued our interest,” Burlison told Fox News.

He later added, “It’s just really, really strange that in about a five-month period of time, four or five people walked out their front door and never returned, and were all doing advanced aerospace research.”

NASA released a statement on Monday saying that, while it is “coordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies in relation to the missing scientists,” there is nothing to suggest “a national security threat.”

“The agency is committed to transparency and will provide more information as able,” NASA wrote in a post on X, responding to a video with Leavitt’s comments.

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Facial recognition to be ‘rolled out’ across UK after human rights challenge fails

Facial recognition systems will be introduced across the country, the government has said as it welcomed the failure of a legal challenge to the technology.

The case against the Metropolitan Police’s use of live facial recognition technology (LFT) in London was brought by two people over concerns it could be used arbitrarily or in a discriminatory way.

The cameras are usually mounted on vans in busy high streets and designed to identify people on police watchlists if they pass by.

Youth worker Shaun Thompson, one of the claimants, said he was misidentified by the technology. The other person bringing the claim was Silkie Carlo, from the group Big Brother Watch.

Their lawyer told the High Court that LFT would also make it “impossible” for Londoners to travel without their biometric data being taken.

But judges ruled on Tuesday that the claimants’ human rights had not been breached and the force’s policy gave “adequate indication of the circumstances in which LFR will be used”.

They also said the argument the technology risked discriminating against people due to their race had not been convincing.

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Washington pastor accused of using AI to create sexually explicit images of real children

A pastor and educator in southeastern Washington state was arrested after allegedly using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to create sexually explicit images of real children.

Kevin Johnson, 54, has been charged with four felony counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He worked as a lead pastor of Impact Church in Pasco and as a paraeducator at Cottonwood Elementary School in nearby Kennewick, according to his Linkedin account.

Johnson pleaded not guilty during an April 10 court appearance, according to NonStop Local, a network of NBC affiliates in the area. During the hearing, prosecutors said they had identified two victims.

“Law enforcement is still working on processing through the defendant’s devices but as of this time have identified an additional victim of which the defendant had generated AI child sexual abuse material,” a prosecutor said at the hearing, NonStop Local reported.

The Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a law enforcement collaboration in southeast Washington led the investigation. Google had flagged suspected child sexual abuse material that had been uploaded to an online platform, according to the Richland Police Department. 

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Elon Musk Is a No-Show for Questioning in French Court Hearing Into X Social Media Platform and Grok Chatbot

France is scrambling to censor free-speech X.

We have been reporting on how France is waging lawfare against free-speech X platform, and how US authorities refused to aid in the nefarious lawsuit, as you can read in DOJ Refuses Cooperation, Warns France to Back Off Censorship Probe Targeting X Platform.

Today (20), it arose that the platform owner, tech billionaire Elon Musk did not appear at a summons for questioning in a French probe into X and its AI ‌chatbot, Grok.

The investigation began looking into alleged abuse of algorithms and fraudulent data extraction, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

Reuters reported:

“The investigation, which has been expanded in past months to include suspected complicity in the distribution of child pornography and the creation of sexual deepfakes by Grok, has added to strains in relations between the U.S. and Europe over Big ​Tech and free speech.”

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Search for 11 missing nuclear scientists escalates as top lawmakers reveal NEW ’national security’ fears

Lawmakers are demanding a sweeping investigation into the mysterious disappearances and deaths of nearly a dozen top US scientists, citing national security concerns.

At least 11 experts with ties to NASA, nuclear research, aerospace programs and classified projects have vanished or turned up dead in recent years.

Many of the individuals held top security clearances, granting them access to sensitive information on space missions, nuclear technology or advanced defense systems, prompting speculation about possible ‘sinister’ connections.

Lawmakers are now demanding that the FBI, Pentagon, NASA and the Department of Energy open probes into the concerning deaths and disappearances, which included researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

‘The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating recent unconfirmed public reporting on the disappearance and death of individuals with access to sensitive US scientific information,’ Republican chairman James Comer wrote in letters sent on Monday. 

‘These reports allege that at least ten individuals who “had a connection to US nuclear secrets or rocket technology,” have “died or mysteriously vanished in recent years,”‘ he writes. 

‘If the reports are accurate, these deaths and disappearances may represent a grave threat to US national security and to US personnel with access to scientific secrets.’

Comer specifically notes the ‘possible sinister connection between a string of mysterious deaths and disappearances which began in 2023.’

President Donald Trump said that he was briefed on the string of disappearances and deaths last week, saying that answers about the alarming cases should come out in the coming weeks. 

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USA Rare Earth to Acquire Brazil’s Serra Verde in $2.8 Billion Deal

USA Rare Earth said on April 20 that it has agreed to acquire Brazil-based Serra Verde Group in a deal valued at approximately $2.8 billion, a significant move to expand production of rare-earth elements outside Asia.

The company said it will purchase 100 percent of Serra Verde through a combination of $300 million in cash and 126.849 million shares of newly issued stock.

Based on USA Rare Earth’s closing share price of $19.95 on April 17, the transaction implies an equity value of about $2.8 billion for Serra Verde.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.

Barbara Humpton, CEO of USA Rare Earth, which is based in Stillwater, Oklahoma, described the acquisition as a step toward a global rare earth platform.

She said that Serra Verde’s Pela Ema mine is “a one-of-a-kind asset and the only producer outside Asia capable of supplying all four magnetic rare earths at scale.”

Humpton also pointed to Serra Verde’s existing agreements, noting that its importance is underscored by a 15-year offtake agreement backed by U.S. government-linked financing and private capital, covering all of its Phase 1 production of key materials such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium.

Rare earths are minerals critical for modern technologies, including electric vehicles, wind turbines, semiconductors, and defense systems. In particular, so-called heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium are essential for producing high-performance magnets used in advanced equipment.

Currently, much of the world’s supply and processing capacity is in China, according to the International Energy Agency.

“Rare earths represent a strategic nexus where national and energy security, and technological supremacy, converge,” Serra Verde CEO Thras Moraitis said in the April 20 statement. “The Western rare earth sector stands at a critical inflection point, as governments and strategic industries urgently seek reliable sources of critical rare earths—particularly scarce heavy rare earths.”

By combining Serra Verde’s mining operations with USA Rare Earth’s processing and magnet-making capabilities, Humpton said, the company aims to create “a fully integrated platform” to support global supply security.

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Minneapolis Man’s Conviction Really Proof Gun Control Is Useless

Gun control advocates insist on arguing that gun control works. They go to great pains to “prove” it works, too, which means garbage studies, ridiculous claims, and correlation lacking causation except when it works against them.

One of my all-time favorite arguments was one where someone tried arguing that the NFA was proof that gun control works because there are so few crimes carried out with machine guns since it passed. Never mind that it wasn’t sold to the public as gun control; it was proof. Especially with the 1986 ban preventing new weapons from being registered.

In fairness, it wasn’t as easy to offer a rebuttal as some might like to think, because crimes with NFA weapons were pretty low, and this was after the full-auto drive-bys of the 1990s. It wasn’t common.

Now, it was clear that wasn’t the case, but it was harder to argue against than a lot of other anti-gun claims.

But these days, it’s not difficult at all to show just how idiotic the whole thing is, especially now. I mean, if the NFA worked as that guy claimed, then how did this guy get in a position to be convicted in the first place?

A federal jury in the District of Minnesota convicted a Minnesota man today of possessing a machine gun created by attaching an illegal machine gun conversion device to a semi-automatic firearm.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Amiir Mawlid Ali, 19, of Minneapolis, was arrested after officers found a machine gun in his possession during a routine traffic stop as he was on the way to a high school graduation. Mr. Ali tried to flee the scene during the traffic stop but officers apprehended him before he could get away. The firearm was equipped with a machine gun conversion device and an extended magazine, which was loaded with over 30 rounds of ammunition. A firearm expert testified at trial that the machine gun possessed by Ali test fired 15 bullets in 2 seconds.

“This defendant possessed an extremely dangerous weapon – a machine gun created by the application of a device known as a switch that converts a legal firearm to an illegal one,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Illegal weapons like this are unduly dangerous and offer nothing legitimate in a law abiding society. The Criminal Division will continue to prosecute illegal firearms offenses like this one to keep communities safe.”

“The verdict announced today makes clear that possession of a firearm modified to function as a machine gun will not be tolerated,” said Special Agent in Charge Christopher D. Dotson of the FBI Minneapolis Field Office. “The FBI is proud of our work on this case, and we thank our Local, State and Federal law enforcement partners for their assistance. Together we will work to stop those who put innocent lives in our community at risk.”

The rise of the 3D printer has done something that cannot be undone. It has made it so people can make things for themselves, even if the authorities don’t approve.

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Russian security chief issues drone attack warning to four NATO states

Russia has the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are found to be deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu warned on Thursday.

“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”

Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.

In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on Russia in what Moscow has characterized as “terrorist attacks,” with the Russian military regularly reporting hundreds of UAVs downed in a single night.

Late last month, Kiev attacked Russia’s Baltic Sea ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk with swarms of UAVs. The raids resulted in fires in both towns, which house extensive petrochemical infrastructure.

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