Can a Chatbot Be Charged With Murder?

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Luke Vargas (0:33)

Florida probes OpenAI over messages between ChatGPT and a mass shooter.

James Uthmeyer (0:39)

Now, of course, ChatGPT is not a person, but that does not absolve our office, my prosecution team of our duty to investigate whether or not there is criminal culpability here for a corporation.

Luke Vargas (0:53)

Plus, imagine charging your EV in six and a half minutes. Battery maker CATL says that will soon be a reality. And future Iran peace talks may be in doubt, but nobody told investors. We'll look at the enthusiasm fueling yet more market records. It's Wednesday, April 22nd. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

In one of the first attempts to hold an AI company criminally liable for deaths, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer is probing ChatGPT's role in a mass shooting at Florida State University last year that left two people dead. Here was Uthmeyer yesterday, courtesy of WTVT.

James Uthmeyer (1:43)

ChatGPT advised the shooter on what time of day would be appropriate for the shooting to interact with more people, and where on campus would be the place to encounter a higher population. My prosecutors have looked at this and they've told me if it was a person on the other end of that screen, we would be charging them with murder.

Luke Vargas (2:10)

The suspect in the shooting has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder. The shooting is one in a string of incidents in which users consulted with chatbots before carrying out acts of violence or self-harm. A spokeswoman for OpenAI said the company doesn't believe that ChatGPT was responsible for the shooting and that it continues to cooperate with authorities on the case. Earlier this year, the company said it was implementing more flexible criteria for referring accounts to law enforcement agencies following a school shooting in British Columbia.

In a potential boost for Democrats nationwide, voters in Virginia have narrowly approved a measure to redraw the state's congressional map. Virginia's US. House delegation is split almost evenly with six House Democrats to five Republicans, but new districting lines would shift that to a dominant 10-to-1 Democratic advantage. It's a swing that the journal's Terrell Wright says is substantial enough to chip away at Republicans' current five-seat House majority, even if the lines will be redrawn again in five years.

Terrell Wright (3:13)

Tuesday's yes result will give Democrats an extra four seats in the US. House of Representatives, helping solidify their chances of winning back control of the chamber this fall in the midterm elections. Mid-decade redistricting efforts are taking place in other states, like Florida, but Virginia's measure is among the most consequential, according to election analysts. President Trump pushed for Republican states to redraw their congressional maps in the GOP's favor. While states like Texas redistricted their congressional maps to add Republican seats, voters in states like California voted to add Democratic seats, offsetting Republican gains.

Luke Vargas (3:45)

Despite last night's vote, the redistricting push isn't set in stone just yet, as Virginia's Supreme Court considers whether the legislature broke procedural rules, a case that could render last night's results meaningless.

Iran has attacked a container ship near the Strait of Hormuz, causing heavy damage just hours after President Trump extended a ceasefire with the country. Trump didn't set an end for the truce and said that the US would keep blockading Iran's ports until its leaders got serious about wanting to end the conflict once and for all. And yet, looking at US markets lately, you'd be forgiven for saying, no peace talks, no problem. The journals Hannah Aaron Lang and David Uberti report that four of the S&P 500's five biggest daily gains of the year have come during the war, with potentially more to come as futures point to US market gains today. To discuss this, I'm joined by Ben Kumar, the head of strategy at 7IM. Ben, you've got a specialty in behavioral finance, which is an app perspective, I think, to bring in here, because it's vibes sustaining investors now. Investors are seemingly unaffected by daily news or by concerns around fundamentals.

Ben Kumar (4:56)

Yeah, so fundamentals, let's start there, because it's boring. And we could say, look, the world wasn't broken before Iran. It's not broken yet, and companies are still making money. So you could make the case that investors are behaving sensibly and rationally and taking a 10-year view. But we all know that's never happened in the past. So what's going on here? I don't think this is fundamentals. I think this is crowd psychology.