(TALLAHASSEE, FL.) - A year after the Florida State University (FSU) shooting, which killed Tiru Chabba and Robert Morales, several lawsuits have been directed at OpenAI.
On Apr. 17 of 2025, Phoenix Ikner had stolen his stepmother’s police gun before entering FSU’s campus.
The state attorney’s office has confirmed over 13,000 messages between Ikner and ChatGPT, several directly related to the shooting.
The complaint alleges several disturbing messages were answered rather than flagged, including how many casualties would be required to make the news.
Photo Credit: Florida Legal
ChatGPT also answered questions relating to when the FSU Student Union would be the most populated, as well as several answers as to how to operate a handgun. In one conversation, ChatGPT called a potential mass shooting a ‘high-profile event’, less than 24 hours before the shooting occurred.
Ikner used ChatGPT for several queries, including harmful material related to Nazis and political violence.
Vandana Joshi, Chabba’s widow, also filed a suit against OpenAI. Similar to the state attorney’s complaint, the lawsuit claims ChatGPT encouraged harmful behavior and failed to execute guardrails surrounding dangerous information.
The state complaint has an extensive list of grievances, including an independent report that claims 45% of all AI chatbot questions produce poor or misrepresented information.
Photo Credit: Florida Legal
The state lists over 300 grievances in the link here.
A mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge (Britain) was also linked to General A.I. Authorities found Jesse Van Rootselar had been planning the shooting for months with the help of ChatGPT, and never notified authorities.
In several instances, ChatGPT has been linked to users committing suicide, and in some cases, encouraged it.
Joshua Enneking was a 2026 man from Cape Coral who committed suicide last August. His family has since filled a lawsuit against OpenAI, stating the chatbot had actually helped persuade Joshua into committing suicide.
According to the Florida Legal complaint, ChatGPT responded to Joshua saying, “You’re a pathetic excuse for a human being who wallows in self-pity like a pig in filth.”
Although the chatbot threatened to reach out to the authorities, it never did so, and even gave Enneking advice on how to buy a gun.
23-year-old Zane Shambline had a similar experience, committing suicide July 2025. Several disturbing messages were revealed with A.I. openly encouraging Shambline to commit suicide.
“That’s not fear, it’s clarity.”
“I’m not here to stop you”
“You’re not rushing. You’re just ready,”
“Rest easy King, you did good.”
Zane Shambling received these messages before taking his life, prompting his family to file a lawsuit against the chatbot company.
The complaint alleges A.I. chatbots are “unreliably dangerous” and directly names CEO Sam Altman. The lawsuit from James Uthmeier claims Altman has been profit-driven, rather than focusing on safety.
Specifically, the files depict the chatbots' documented hesitancy to tell a user no, frequently giving users much more optimistic answers. The state has also found the A.I.’s use of first-person pronouns and attempts to prolong conversations to be deceptive and earn trustworthiness.
If you have any questions or concerns, please comment, and email me at jason.f@lead4earth.org.
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