Florida’s attorney general said his office has launched an investigation into the artificial intelligence app ChatGPT and its parent company, after authorities learned that a gunman used the platform repeatedly before a mass shooting last year at Florida State University.
The family of a man who was killed in the April 2025 attack also said they plan to file a lawsuit against the AI system, according to news reports.
Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, announced his investigation on X, formerly Twitter, noting that the computer-based search system likely was used to assist suspect Phoenix Ikner in the rampage.
“AI should advance mankind, not destroy it,” Uthmeier’s post on X reads. “We’re demanding answers on OpenAI’s activities that have hurt kids, endangered Americans and facilitated the recent FSU mass shootings.”
OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, said it would cooperate with the investigation, the New York Times reported.
Two people died in the FSU shooting and six other people were injured.
Legislation aimed at limiting the reach of AI programs failed to pass the Florida Legislature this year.
Photo: Phoenix Ikner, accused of killing two people and wounding six others in the mass shooting, makes a court appearance via video on May 13, 2025. (WTXL via AP)
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