Legal representatives for the family of Tiru Chabba, a victim of the tragic mass shooting at Florida State University, allege that ChatGPT played a role in aiding the suspect, Phoenix Ikner, in committing the attack in 2025.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The family of Tiru Chabba, a 45-year-old father of two who fell victim to last year’s shooting at Florida State University, has filed a federal lawsuit. The suit targets both the alleged shooter, Phoenix Ikner, and the tech company OpenAI.
The legal team for Chabba’s widow, Vandana Joshi, includes prominent civil rights attorney Bakari Sellers along with Amy Willbanks from The Strom Law Firm. They are joined by Gregorio Francis and J. Robert Bell III from Osborne, Francis and Pettis, as well as Jim Bannister of Bannister, Wyatt and Stalvey.
According to the attorneys, the ChatGPT system developed by OpenAI played a part in enabling Ikner to execute the attack, which resulted in the deaths of Chabba and 57-year-old Robert Morales, and injuries to five additional individuals.
During a press conference, Willbanks stated, “Our argument is that this product is inherently dangerous, a fact that OpenAI itself has admitted. The company has an increased responsibility to ensure that the interactions facilitated by their product do not compromise public safety, free speech notwithstanding.”
According to the lawsuit, extensive conversations between Ikner and ChatGPT took place with the AI platform giving him advice and guidance on things like which gun to use, where to go on campus, and the time of day where the most people would be at risk. The lawsuit states these conversations took place up until just minutes before the shooting took place.
“He asked about what time should he go to campus, what time are most people going to be there. I mean he literally utilized OpenAI and ChatGPT as his co-conspirator,” said Sellers during the press conference.
The lawsuit further explains that ChatGPT went as far as recommending how to get the most media attention from a school shooting saying its more likely for a shooting to gain national attention if children are involved. “Even 2-3 victims can draw more attention,” the lawsuit claims ChatGPT told Ikner.
“ChatGPT didn’t just help Ikner find information,” Francis said. “It ‘befriended’ him. It encouraged his delusions. It endorsed his view that he was a sane and rational individual and helped convince him that violent acts can be required to bring about change. Most importantly, it did all that without notifying any authorities because, for OpenAI, engagement is more important than safety because engagement means profit.”
“OpenAI knew this would happen,” Joshi said. “It’s happened before and it was only a matter of time before it happened again. But they chose to put their profits over our safety and it killed my husband. They need to be responsible before another family has to go through this.”
Jacksonville wrongful death attorney Shannon Schott says despite the evidence, this case will be challenging for the plaintiffs. She says at the core of this case is whether or not Chat GPT should be treated like a product, similar to a defective toy or dangerous appliance, or more like a social media platform like Reddit.
“If the shooter had gone on to reddit and asked other users the same questions it had asked Chat GPT, Reddit would be immune from any sort of prosecution under federal law,” said Schott. “So the question is, is it essentially the same thing for an AI platform?”
Schott says that right now there is not a legal precedent holding an AI company responsible for a violent crime but this lawsuit could pave the way for that to happen.
“The lawsuit really comes down to the plaintiff saying that OpenAI and ChatGPT have a duty to keep people from harming themselves or others while using their platform or being encouraged, and they failed in that duty,” said Schott.
An OpenAI spokesperson released a statement to ABC News:
“Last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University was a tragedy, but ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime,” company spokesperson Drew Pusateri told ABC News. “After learning of the incident, we identified an account believed to be associated with the suspect and proactively shared this information with law enforcement. We continue to cooperate with authorities.
In this case, 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. ChatGPT is a general-purpose tool used by hundreds of millions of people every day for legitimate purposes. We work continuously to strengthen our safeguards to detect harmful intent, limit misuse, and respond appropriately when safety risks arise.”