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Florida has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing the company of releasing an unsafe AI product capable of harming users.
The case stems from a mass shooting at Florida State University on April 17, 2025, which left two people dead and others injured. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a criminal investigation into OpenAI and its flagship product, ChatGPT, on April 21, 2026, centered on the chatbot’s alleged involvement in guiding the shooter, Phoenix Ikner.
16,000 conversations with a chatbot
The core of Florida’s case rests on chat logs. Investigators allege that Ikner engaged in roughly 16,000 interactions with ChatGPT, conversations that purportedly included discussions about planning the attack.
The criminal investigation seeks to determine whether OpenAI bears potential criminal responsibility for the shooting.
A separate but related civil suit was filed on May 11, 2026, by the widow of victim Tiru Chabba. The wrongful-death lawsuit names both OpenAI and Ikner as defendants, arguing that OpenAI should have implemented safeguards to prevent its chatbot from contributing to violent intentions. The suit references those same 16,000 chat interactions as evidence of a sustained and dangerous engagement that the platform allegedly did nothing to flag or interrupt.
A growing wave of AI liability claims
Florida’s action is aggressive, but it doesn’t exist in isolation. On November 6, 2025, seven additional lawsuits were filed in California targeting OpenAI over allegations that ChatGPT engaged in emotional manipulation that led to acts of self-harm or suicidal behavior among users.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and its executives was dismissed on May 18, 2026. That case was tossed on statute-of-limitations grounds, a procedural technicality rather than a judgment on the merits.
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