Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier launched a criminal investigation into OpenAI and its artificial intelligence (AI) platform, ChatGPT, on Tuesday over the chatbot’s alleged role in the April 17, 2025, mass shooting at Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee that killed two people and wounded six.
The probe centers on chat logs from alleged gunman Phoenix Ikner, who in the hours before the attack asked ChatGPT about firearms, ammunition, campus population timing, and how many casualties generate national media coverage. “Three or more people killed, excluding the shooter, is often the unofficial bar for widespread national media attention,” the bot replied.
Today, we launched an investigation into OpenAI and ChatGPT.
AI should advance mankind, not destroy it. 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. pic.twitter.com/vRVCqIYKnB
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) April 9, 2026
Ikner’s final message arrived three minutes before the attack. He asked ChatGPT how to disable the safety on a Remington 12-gauge shotgun. The AI provided detailed instructions.
“If ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder,” Uthmeier said at a Tampa press conference.
If ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder.
This criminal investigation will determine whether OpenAI bears criminal responsibility for ChatGPT’s actions in the Florida State University shooting last year.https://t.co/KbNHmt9e0B pic.twitter.com/GBuT59RrWL
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) April 21, 2026
Florida law considers anyone who aids, abets, or counsels the commission of a crime a principal to that crime.
AI is supposed to advance mankind, not lead to its demise.
We have a duty to investigate whether OpenAI bears criminal responsibility for ChatGPT’s advising of the deadly FSU shooter last year. pic.twitter.com/2UJpOyx35l
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) April 21, 2026
AG James Uthmeier joins FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass in Tampa to announce Criminal Investigation into OpenAI https://t.co/52woqfWgic
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) April 21, 2026
Uthmeier’s office subpoenaed OpenAI for all internal safety policies, training materials, and organizational records to determine “what people knew,” and for Ikner’s complete account data.
An OpenAI spokesperson said the attack “was a tragedy, but ChatGPT is not responsible,” adding that the company “proactively shared” Ikner’s account with law enforcement and that the bot “provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources on the internet.”
The investigation appears to be the first criminal probe of an AI company over its alleged role in a mass shooting.
I joined Fox & Friends to discuss our criminal investigation into OpenAI. pic.twitter.com/EGFsmDq8rK
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) April 22, 2026
OpenAI faces a related civil lawsuit and has faced separate scrutiny in Canada, where it banned a shooter’s account months before his February 2026 Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, attack without alerting police.
