How ChatGPT content was used to build a case against the Palisades fire accused

ChatGPT prompt tied to 2025 Palisades fire evidence: 23,000 acres, 7,000 structures lost, 12 dead. Investigators link 29‑year‑old Jonathan Rinderknecht’s AI chats to arson, raising new legal‑AI questions.

A prompt on ChatGPT to produce the image of a burning city was a part of the evidence collected from the accused in the 2025 Palisade fire, which burnt more than 23,000 acres, destroyed nearly 7,000 structures, and killed 12 people in Los Angeles, California this January.

Investigators have made three key references to information collected from the digital devices of Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, specifically, his interactions with OpenAI’s pioneering large language model, which point to his involvement in starting the fire.