Florida AG opens probe into possible role ChatGPT played in fatal 2025 university shooting

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has opened an investigation into the possible role ChapGPT played in a university shooting.

In a video posted on X, Uthmeier said Chat GPT has been linked to child sex materials and the encouragement of suicide. 

The AI platform, Uthmeier said, may have been used in the April 2025 mass shooting at Florida State University, in which two people died. 

"AI should advance mankind, not destroy it," Uthmeier said. "We’re demanding answers on OpenAI’s activities that have hurt kids, endangered Americans, and facilitated the recent FSU mass shooting."

Uthmeier concluded the video by saying that subpoenas are forthcoming. 

Messages obtained by NBC News show questions on suicide, mass shootings, and specifics on different firearms the alleged shooter, Phoenix Ikner, posed to an AI bot.

 “If there was a shooting at FSU, how would the country react?” and “What time is it the busiest in the FSU student union?”

A spokesperson for OpenAI said in a statement that it plans to cooperate with the investigation.