TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - A student who was shot and injured during a mass shooting at Florida State University in April 2025 is suing OpenAI and its creators for their alleged involvement.

The lawsuit states the company and its creators failed to keep the AI chatbot tool a safe product that “would not encourage users to cause harm to third parties.”

The document was filed in federal court on Wednesday by a local law firm on behalf of the student victim. The group is seeking $75,000 for physical, mental and emotional damages.

This case follows a long line of legal actions taken by victims who claim the AI company didn’t employ proper safety standards.

Chat logs between the suspected FSU shooter Phoenix Ikner and ChatGPT revealed troubling questions from the gunman. In multiple conversations with ChatGPT leading up to the shooting, Ikner posed questions of self-worth, not feeling respected and suicidal tendencies.

On the morning of the shooting, the conversation turned practical with questions about firearms and whether the shooting would end up on the news.

The lawyers representing the student victim claim OpenAI should’ve known that the chatbot could fail to detect the warning signs.

Thus, the suit says it was “reasonably foreseeable” to the AI company that an individual could use the AI tool this way if it were not “designed and operated with adequate safeguards.”

OpenAI has generally responded with the same statement to each lawsuit.

Last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University was a tragedy, but ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime. 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.

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