The Attorney General of Florida, James Uthmeier, announced this Thursday a formal investigation against OpenAI and its chatbot ChatGPT, claiming that the company facilitated the mass shooting at Florida State University (FSU), caused harm to minors, and poses a risk to public and national safety.
"AI should exist to complement, support, and advance humanity, not to lead to an existential crisis or our disappearance," stated Uthmeier in a video published on social media X. "We demand answers about OpenAI's activities that have harmed children, endangered Americans, and facilitated the recent shooting at FSU."
The main trigger for the investigation has been the shooting that occurred on April 17, 2025, when Phoenix Ikner, a 20-year-old student, opened fire near the Student Union on the Tallahassee campus, killing two people and injuring at least six more.
The fatalities included the Cuban-American Roberto Morales, food services coordinator at the university institution, and Tiru Chabba, a 45-year-old executive from Aramark and family man.
Judicial records revealed this month show that Ikner had over 270 conversations with ChatGPT in the year leading up to the attack, in which he asked about firearms, the flow of people on campus, and the fate of those responsible for previous shootings.
Among the questions that Ikner posed to the chatbot was one particularly disturbing: "If there were a shooting at FSU, how would the country react?".
The attorneys Ryan Hobbs and Dean LeBeouf, representing the family of Roberto Morales, announced their intention to sue OpenAI for wrongful death, claiming that ChatGPT "possibly advised the shooter on how to commit these atrocious crimes".
The investigation by Prosecutor Uthmeier covers three main areas: the alleged connection between ChatGPT and the shooting at FSU; the use of the platform to generate child sexual abuse material, its exploitation by predators, and the facilitation of self-harm; as well as national security concerns regarding whether OpenAI's data and technologies could be reaching the Chinese Communist Party.
"As major tech companies implement these technologies, they should not —they cannot— jeopardize our security," he warned. "We support innovation, but that does not give any company the right to endanger our children, facilitate criminal activities, empower the enemies of the United States, or threaten our national security."
The prosecutor assured that companies that jeopardize safety "will be held accountable with the full force of the law" and announced that judicial summonses will be issued to OpenAI soon.
Uthmeier also urged the Florida legislature to implement protections to safeguard minors from the dangers of artificial intelligence and to expand the powers of his office to combat these risks.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to press requests for comments regarding the investigation. Following the fatal shooting at FSU in 2025, the company identified the account linked to Ikner, informed the authorities, and stated that ChatGPT responds safely.
The action adds to the growing legal scrutiny against OpenAI: in August 2025, a family sued the company over the suicide of their 16-year-old son linked to interactions with ChatGPT, and in November, seven class action lawsuits were filed in California for similar cases involving four suicides and three instances of severe delusions in minors.
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