OpenAI Sued By Spouse Of FSU Shooting Victim
The spouse of a victim of a mass shooting at Florida State University is suing OpenAI, accusing the company of providing the alleged shooter with “contribution and assistance.” The suit was filed by Vandana Joshi; Tiru Chabba was one of two university employees who were killed during the April 2025 event, which left seven others injured.
According to the lawsuit, the alleged shooter, Phoenix Ikner, was helped “through input and information provided to him in conversations with ChatGPT over a period of months, and specifically in the days leading up to the shooting.” Joshi’s lawyers accused ChatGPT of helping Ikner by identifying the weapons that were later used in the shooting, informing him how to use the firearms and preparing for the shooting. According to chat logs between Ikner and ChatGPT cited in the lawsuit, the chatbot even suggested that involving children in a mass shooting would attract more attention and make national news. The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of negligence, battery, and wrongful death, while also requesting a jury trial.
In response, OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri told Engadget that the company continues to cooperate with authorities and is continually working to improve safeguards. He added that “in this case, ChatGPT provided factual answers to questions with information that could be found widely in public sources on the Internet, and it did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activities.”
“Last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University was a tragedy, but ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime,” Pusateri told Engadget in a statement. “After becoming aware of the incident, we identified an account believed to be associated with the suspect and proactively shared this information with law enforcement.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also recently opened a criminal investigation into OpenAI, finding that its chatbot’s role in the FSU shooting could have made the company a perpetrator under state law.
