The family of a victim of last year’s Florida State University mass shooting filed a lawsuit Sunday against OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT “inflamed and encouraged” accused shooter Phoenix Ikner’s “delusions” ahead of the attack.
The lawsuit filed in Tallahassee follows the first criminal investigation against OpenAI opened by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier last month over whether the company “bears criminal responsibility” for the shooting.
The family of Tiru Chabba, one of the two people police say Ikner killed in April 2025, alleges Ikner messaged ChatGPT thousands of times before carrying out the shooting.
The chatbot helped him plan the logistics of the shooting, including how to operate weapons and advising on “what time would be best to encounter the most traffic on campus,” the complaint said. ChatGPT identified guns and ammunition based on photos Ikner had uploaded and allegedly told him the Glock handgun he obtained was “meant to be fired ‘quick to use under stress,’” according to the lawsuit. The chatbot also allegedly suggested he keep his finger off the trigger until he was ready to shoot.
ChatGPT “provided what he viewed as encouragement in his delusion,” the lawsuit says.
