Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier has ordered a criminal investigation into OpenAI and its chatbot ChatGPT for their alleged role in a deadly shooting at Florida State University last year, a Reuters report said. In April 2025, a gunman killed two people and injured six others on campus. Police later shot and arrested the suspect, who now faces multiple charges, including murder and attempted murder.
ChatGPT’s alleged role in the attack
According to Attorney General Uthmeier, the chatbot gave detailed responses about weapons and attack planning. It allegedly suggested the type of gun and ammunition to use, explained what is most effective at close range and even identified crowded areas on the campus.
“The chatbot advised the shooter on what type of gun to use, on which ammo went with which gun, on whether or not a gun would be useful at short range,” Uthmeier said during a press briefing.
What the state is looking into
Officials say the probe will examine whether OpenAI can be held legally responsible for any role its technology may have played in the incident. As part of this, prosecutors have asked the company to share records and related data.
The Attorney General indicated that if such guidance had come from a person instead of a chatbot, it could have led to serious criminal charges. “If it was a person on the other end of that screen, we would be charging them with murder,” he added.
OpenAI’s response
OpenAI has said the incident is tragic but denied any wrongdoing. The company said it identified an account linked to the suspect and shared that information with law enforcement on its own. According to the company, the chatbot only gave general, factual information that is already available online and did not promote or support any harmful or illegal actions.
“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,” Reuters quoted the spokesperson, as saying.
What happened at Florida University?
The incident occurred outside the student union on the university’s Tallahassee campus. Ikner, who was a student at the university, opened fire using his stepmother’s service pistol. He killed two people and injured six others before being shot by police.The victims were identified as Robert Morales, 57, and Tiru Chabba, 45. Both men worked as vendors on campus, according to the US media reports.
Uthmeier’s office stated that the investigation will explore whether OpenAI bears criminal responsibility for ChatGPT’s actions in the shooting.
The Office of Statewide Prosecution has issued a subpoena to OpenAI, demanding certain information and records related to the case, the Reuters report mentioned.
The case has once again raised wider questions about the risks of artificial intelligence. Experts have been warning about how such tools could be misused, from helping plan crimes to spreading misinformation, increasing fraud, or even affecting jobs and public systems.