Florida AG Uthmeier to probe OpenAI, ChatGPT role in FSU shooting

April 9 (UPI) -- Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced plans Thursday to open investigations into the artificial intelligence platform OpenAI.

He cited child sex abuse material, the encouragement of suicide and self-harm, and help planning a mass shooting as reasons for the probe.

"AI should advance mankind, not destroy it," Uthmeier said ini an X post announcing the investigation.

"We're demanding answers on OpenAI's activities that have hurt kids, endangered Americans and facilitated the recent FSU mass shooting.

"Wrongdoers must be held accountable."

He said the probe into OpenAi and its chatbot ChatGPT was in part sparked by a mass shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee in April 2025. The shooting left two dead and six injured, and the shooter allegedly used AI to help him plan the attack.

Phoenix Ikner allegedly used ChatGPT to ask questions about a potential mass shooting at the school. NBC News obtained copies of some of the alleged questions, which included asking when was the busiest time in the the FSU student union.

A representative for OpenAI told NBC News the company intends to cooperate with Florida's investigation.

"Our ongoing safety work continues to play an important role in delivering these benefits to everyday people, as well as supporting scientific research and discovery," the company said.

An attorney representing Betty Morales, whose husband, Robert Morales, was killed in the attack, told the Tallahassee Democrat that she plans to sue ChatGPT for its role in the FSU shooting.

"We have been advised that the shooter was in constant communication with ChatGPT leading up to the shooting," the attorney, Ryan Hobbs, said. "We also have reason to believe that ChatGPT may have advised the shooter how to commit these heinous crimes."