Lawsuit Against OpenAI Claims Man Used ChatGPT To Plan Florida State Mass Shooting

The family of a man murdered in a mass shooting at Florida State University is suing OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT helped enable the attack.

NBC News reported that Vandana Joshi, the widow of shooting victim Tiru Chabba, has filed the federal lawsuit. The document alleges that the technology should have detected that accused shooter Phoenix Ikner was a threat in the “extensive conversations” ChatGPT had with him.

Chabba, and Florida State University dining director Robert Morales were killed in the April 2025 shooting.

The lawsuit states that after Ikner shared images of the firearms he had, ChatGPT told him how to use them. According to the lawsuit, ChatGPT told Ikner that “the Glock had no safety, that it was meant to be fired ‘quick to use under stress’ and advising him to keep his finger off the trigger until he was ready to shoot.”

On the day of the shooting, the lawsuit states, Ikner parked his car on a service road near the student union. He then used ChatGPT, which told him how to load and operate the shotgun he had. After receiving that advice, “Ikner exited his vehicle and began to carry out his mass shooting plan at FSU,” the lawsuit states.

Ikner, according to the lawsuit, attempted to use the shotgun but it did not fire. He then ran back to his car, got the Glock he had, and returned and opened fire.

“ChatGPT inflamed and encouraged Ikner’s delusions; endorsed his view that he was a sane and rational individual; helped convince him that violent acts can be required to bring about change; assisted him by providing information that he used to plan specifics like what weapons to use and how to use them; and generally provided what he viewed as encouragement in his delusion that she (SIC) should carry out a massacre, down to the detail of what time would be best to encounter the most traffic on campus,” the lawsuit states.

“He used ChatGPT as a co-conspirator to commit mass murder,” attorney Bakari Sellers told WCTV-7. The station reported that Morales’ family also has announced plans to file a lawsuit against OpenAI and that their attorneys have said that Ikner and ChatGPT were in near “constant communication.”

OpenAI denied that it had any responsibility for the shooting.

“In this case, ChatGPT provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources on the internet, and it did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activity,” OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri told NBC News.

“ChatGPT is a general-purpose tool used by hundreds of millions of people every day for legitimate purposes. We work continuously to strengthen our safeguards to detect harmful intent, limit misuse, and respond appropriately when safety risks arise,” Pusateri told NBC News.