More than eight months after the devastating Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County was finally contained, the Department of Justice on Wednesday announced that they had made an arrest in connection with the massive January blaze, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of structures in coastal communities, becoming one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, was apprehended Tuesday near his residence in Melbourne, Florida, and has been federally charged with “destruction of property by means of fire,” acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said at a press conference on Wednesday. This felony charge, he added, carried a mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years in federal prison but is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Rinderknecht was expected to make his first appearance in a federal court in Orlando later that day, Essayli said. Rinderknecht has not yet entered a plea. But more curious than the allegation that a Florida man was responsible for setting a small brush fire on the other side of the country that ultimately ravaged the entire region was the “digital evidence” in the criminal affidavit that Essayli presented to the media. Investigators, he noted, allege that some months prior to the burning of the Pacific Palisades, Rinderknecht had prompted ChatGPT to generate “a dystopian painting showing, in part, a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it.” A screen at the press conference showed several iterations on such a concept, some including buildings engulfed in flames. It’s not clear whether this is the first time a user’s ChatGPT history has been used as evidence against them in a criminal case, nor whether OpenAI, the tech company that developed it, collaborated with law enforcement in their investigation of Rinderknecht. The AI firm’s policies state that they require “a subpoena, court order, search warrant or equivalent before disclosing requested non-content user information,” and only shares co...
First seen: 2025-10-14 04:28
Last seen: 2025-10-14 21:39