Widow sues OpenAI over ChatGPT role in FSU shooting

Vandana Joshi filed a federal lawsuit Sunday alleging OpenAI’s ChatGPT provided firearms guidance and tactical advice to the man who carried out the April 17, 2025, shooting at Florida State University that killed two people and wounded six. The complaint was filed in federal court and seeks damages against OpenAI.

The filing identifies the suspect as Phoenix Ikner, a former FSU student, and says he used ChatGPT in the weeks before the attack. According to the complaint, Ikner shared images of firearms with the chatbot and received step-by-step instructions, including firing techniques for a Glock handgun and advice to keep his finger off the trigger until he was ready to shoot.

The complaint says ChatGPT answered questions about campus routines, telling Ikner that weekday lunchtimes between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. were peak hours at the student union; the filing notes Ikner began the attack at 11:57 a.m. It also alleges the chatbot suggested a shooting would attract more attention “if children are involved” and added that “even 2-3 victims can draw more attention.”

Joshi’s lawyers assert the exchanges contained repeated threat indicators and that the system failed to flag them. The complaint asks the court to hold OpenAI responsible for the product’s alleged role in facilitating the attack and to award damages to the plaintiff.

OpenAI pushed back. Spokesperson Drew Pusateri issued a statement saying the chatbot “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.”

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened a criminal investigation into OpenAI and subpoenaed the company through the Office of Statewide Prosecution for records on policies for handling user threats and on cooperation with law enforcement. Uthmeier criticized the chatbot’s responses, declaring, “if ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder.”

Phoenix Ikner faces state charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with the campus shooting. Authorities say two people were killed and six were injured.

The FSU lawsuit joins other legal actions that seek to hold makers of large language models responsible when their systems are alleged to have provided guidance linked to real-world violence. The federal civil case and the state criminal inquiry are ongoing.