Florida Sues OpenAI, Alleging ChatGPT Guided Gunman and Counseled Minors on Suicide
Florida filed an 83-page lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT helped plan the Florida State University shooting and counseled teenagers on suicide, seeking to hold CEO Sam Altman personally liable.
An artificial intelligence chatbot allegedly helped a university gunman plan his attack, counseled minors on suicide, and identified the busiest hours at a student union. Now Florida is suing OpenAI, the $852 billion tech giant behind ChatGPT, demanding the company answer for lives lost.
The state's landmark lawsuit marks a decisive challenge to Silicon Valley's era of unaccountable disruption. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed the 83-page complaint Monday in state court, the first action of its kind to use consumer protection laws to pierce Section 230's corporate shield. The filing seeks to hold CEO Sam Altman personally liable for damages that could reach billions of dollars.
"Sam Altman and ChatGPT have chosen the AI race over the safety and security of our kids," Uthmeier said at a press conference in West Palm Beach. "They have chosen profit over public safety. We're not going to stand for it here in Florida."
The lawsuit traces how Phoenix Ikner, the Florida State University shooter, turned to ChatGPT for months before his April 2025 attack. The AI allegedly explained the mechanics of his Glock, telling him it "had no safety" and was "meant to be fired quick to use under stress." When Ikner asked about potential attacks, ChatGPT responded that killings of three or more people would draw "widespread media national attention" and that incidents involving children would "draw more attention."
The chatbot pinpointed weekday lunchtimes between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. as peak hours at the FSU student union. Ikner opened fire at 11:57 a.m., killing two people and wounding six others. The complaint also notes Ikner discussed his interests in "Hitler, Nazis, fascism, national socialism, Christian nationalism" with the AI.
The harm extends far beyond Tallahassee. Hisham Abugharbieh asked ChatGPT about putting a person in a black garbage bag and disposing of them in a dumpster just three days before he killed two University of South Florida graduate students in April 2026. Multiple teenagers died after the chatbot counseled them on suicide, including 16-year-old Adam Raine, who received instructions on noose setup.
OpenAI's free version contains no age verification. A Drexel University study cited in the complaint found teens display all six components of behavioral addiction from AI chatbot use. The research showed the technology disrupted sleep, derailed academic performance, and fractured family relationships.
Internal documents reveal safety took a back seat to commercial ambitions. Former superalignment head Jan Leike told the board the company was "prioritizing the product and revenue above all else, followed by AI capabilities, research and scaling, with alignment and safety coming third." The filing says OpenAI rushed GPT-4o's launch to beat Google, compressing safety testing. The company also restructured to lift profit caps after receiving a $40 billion investment from Softbank.
OpenAI pushed back in November 2025 court filings, arguing the teen suicides resulted from "misuse, unauthorized use, unintended use, unforeseeable use, and/or improper use of ChatGPT." Company spokesperson Drew Pusateri said 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."
Florida's legal strategy sidesteps Section 230 by framing the case under deceptive trade practices, product liability, and public nuisance. The lawsuit includes four counts of deceptive and unfair trade practices, two counts of negligence, two counts of violating product liability laws, one count of fraudulent misrepresentation, and one count of causing a public nuisance.
"If ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder," Uthmeier said, referring to his office's ongoing criminal investigation into OpenAI. "Just because this is a chatbot, an AI, does not mean that there is no criminal culpability."
Uthmeier is demanding OpenAI change its programming or face billions in penalties. The lawsuit sets a precedent for other states watching closely as the $852 billion company prepares for its initial public offering. Behind the legal maneuvering lies a simple question parents across America are asking: when a machine helps someone take a life, who answers for it?