TALLAHASSE: The widow of a man killed in a mass shooting last year at Florida State University is suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI, blaming the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot for contributing to the tragedy.
Prosecutors say they believe ChatGPT advised Phoenix Ikner on which location and time of day would allow for the most potential victims; what type of gun and ammunition to use; and whether a gun would be useful at short range.
“OpenAI knew this would happen. It’s happened before and it was only a matter of time before it happened again,” Vandana Joshi said in a statement Monday (May 11). Her husband Tiru Chabba was one of two people killed, and six more were wounded.
Drew Pusateri, a spokesperson for OpenAI, denied wrongdoing in “this terrible crime.”
“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,” Pusateri said in an email Monday to The Associated Press.
The lawsuit was filed Sunday in federal court.
Ikner faces two counts of first-degree murder and several counts of attempted murder in the shooting that terrorized the campus in Tallahassee, Florida’s capital, in April 2025. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty. Ikner has pleaded not guilty.
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