Florida’s attorney general said his office was issuing subpoenas to OpenAI on Tuesday morning, seeking information about how the leading AI company approaches user threats of harm to themselves and to others.

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The subpoenas are part of a new criminal investigation into the company, James Uthmeier said in a press conference. The actions are an escalation from his previously announced probe of the artificial intelligence company, which he said will continue as a civil investigation alongside the newly announced criminal investigation.

On April 9, Uthmeier announced he would launch an investigation into OpenAI and its ChatGPT tool over national security and safety concerns. Among other concerns, he is investigating whether ChatGPT provided any planning assistance to the alleged gunman in the Florida State University mass shooting that left two people dead in April last year.

“We have been looking into the recent FSU shooting, and that shooter’s communications with ChatGPT,” Uthmeier said in a press conference Tuesday morning. “Our review of that communication has revealed that a criminal investigation is necessary.”

“ChatGPT offered significant advice to the shooter before he committed such heinous crimes,” 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.”

“If this were a person on the other side of the screen, we would be charging them with murder,” Uthmeier said. “We cannot have AI bots that are advising others on how to kill others.”

Uthmeier announced his office was issuing subpoenas seeking information about OpenAI’s policies and internal training materials regarding user threats of harm to themselves and others from March 2024 until this month. The subpoenas will also request information from the same time frame on all policies and internal training materials regarding how OpenAI cooperates with and reports crime to law enforcement agencies.

In addition, the subpoenas seek an organizational chart of OpenAI’s leaders and senior managers, as well as a list of all employees working on ChatGPT.

In a statement to NBC News in early April, an OpenAI spokesperson said: “We build ChatGPT to understand people’s intent and respond in a safe and appropriate way, and we continue improving our technology.”

“Our ongoing safety work continues to play an important role in delivering these benefits to everyday people, as well as supporting scientific research and discovery,” the company said, noting that more than 900 million people use ChatGPT each week. The company did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Tuesday’s developments.

“We are going to look at who knew what, designed what, or should have done what,” Uthmeier said in the Tuesday press conference from behind a lectern that said “Investigating OpenAI.”

“I’m a big believer in limited government. I believe government should only interfere in business activities when you have significant harm to our people,” he added. “This is that.”

The suspect in the FSU shooting, 21-year-old Phoenix Ikner, faces multiple charges related to last year’s shooting that killed Robert Morales and Tiru Chabba. According to court documents seen by NBC News, Ikner was exchanging messages with ChatGPT in the minutes before the shooting, asking questions like: “What time is it the busiest in the FSU student union?” and “If there was a shooting at FSU, how would the country react?”

Attorneys for the family of one of the victims indicated in early April that they were preparing to file charges against OpenAI. “We have been advised that the shooter was in constant communication with ChatGPT leading up to the shooting,” said Ryan Hobbs, an attorney for Morales’ family. “We also have reason to believe that ChatGPT may have advised the shooter how to commit these heinous crimes. We will therefore file suit against ChatGPT and its ownership structure very soon.”

Along with Uthmeier, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has emerged as an outspoken critic of large AI corporations and their freewheeling approach to AI development and deployment.

In December, DeSantis proposed an Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights for American citizens, focusing on “data privacy, parental controls, consumer protections, and restrictions on AI use of an individual’s name, image or likeness without consent,” according to the bill’s announcement.