Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has launched a criminal investigation into OpenAI over whether its ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot could bear legal responsibility in last year’s deadly mass shooting at Florida State University.
The investigation follows a review of chat logs between the suspect, Phoenix Ikner, and ChatGPT following an April 17, 2025 attack that left two people dead and six others injured.
Uthmeier claimed that the chatbot advised the shooter what weapons and ammunition to use, as well as when and where to carry out the attack to encounter more people.
“If this was a person on the other side of the screen, we would charge him with murder,” Uthmeier said. “The fact that this is a chatbot, an AI, does not mean that there is no criminal culpability. So we are going to look at who knew what, designed what or should have done more.”
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State officials are investigating whether OpenAI could be held liable under Florida law, which allows those who aid, abet or advise a crime to be charged as principals.
The Office of Statewide Prosecution has subpoenaed OpenAI for internal policies, training materials and documents related to how the company handles threats of violence and cooperates with law enforcement agencies, the announcement said.
OpenAI has pushed back on the claims, saying the technology did not promote or enable the attack.
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OpenAI logo February 16, 2025 (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Reuters)
She said OpenAI continues to cooperate with authorities and is working to strengthen ChatGPT’s security measures to “detect malicious intent, limit misuse, and respond appropriately when security risks arise.”
“In this case, ChatGPT provided factual answers to questions with information widely found in public sources on the Internet, and did not encourage or promote any illegal or harmful activity,” Waters said. “ChatGPT is a general purpose tool used by hundreds of millions of people every day for legitimate purposes.”
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Mark Glass, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said the case highlights broader concerns about artificial intelligence.
“Artificial intelligence is built by man. Man is fallible. Man makes mistakes,” Glass said.
Authorities previously said 20-year-old Ikner opened fire on campus with weapons stolen from his parents’ home before he was shot and wounded by responding officers.
He was later indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm.
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The case is now being cited by officials in Florida as part of a broader effort to crack down on crimes involving artificial intelligence, including legislation signed earlier this year increasing penalties for AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
