Two more victims of the 2025 Florida State University mass shooting have filed lawsuits against OpenAI, alleging that its ChatGPT failed to act on warning signs from the accused gunman. The plaintiffs seek damages for medical expenses, emotional distress, and disfigurement.
TL;DR
- Two more victims of the 2025 FSU shooting sue OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT ignored warning signs from the gunman.
- The lawsuits claim OpenAI failed to implement adequate safety measures, potentially aiding the attacker.
- This brings the total number of lawsuits against OpenAI related to the shooting to five.
What happened
Elizabeth Mall and Madison Askins, two victims of the April 2025 Florida State University mass shooting, filed lawsuits against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, on July 14. The lawsuits allege that OpenAI's ChatGPT failed to act on information from the accused gunman, Phoenix Ikner, despite clear warning signs. According to the suits, ChatGPT had information indicating that Ikner was an FSU student, had been bullied, struggled socially, had mental-health issues, was interested in extremist ideology, had discussed terrorism and mass shootings, had uploaded guns, and had asked about weapons, ammunition, lethality, notoriety, and crowd timing. However, the large language model 'failed to connect the dots, failed to escalate the situation for human review, failed to suspend or restrict Ikner's access, and failed to trigger any effective intervention,' the suits added.
These latest complaints follow those by Alianna Grant, who was shot three times at the Student Union, and by the family of Tiru Chabba, a South Carolina man who was killed in the shooting. The widow of Robert Morales, a Tallahassee man killed in the attack, also said she plans to sue the AI company. And Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and related entities June 1 and opened a criminal investigation into their ties to the FSU shooting.
Why it matters
This news is significant for several reasons. First, it highlights the potential legal liabilities that AI companies may face if their products are used in harmful ways. Second, it raises questions about the adequacy of safety measures implemented by AI companies to prevent their products from being used in harmful ways. Finally, it underscores the need for AI companies to be transparent about the limitations of their products and the steps they are taking to mitigate potential risks.
For developers and startups, this news serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of building safety measures into AI products from the outset. For investors, it highlights the potential legal and reputational risks associated with investing in AI companies. And for the broader AI community, it underscores the need for ongoing dialogue and collaboration to ensure that AI is developed and deployed in a safe, responsible, and ethical manner.
Key facts
- The lawsuits were filed on July 14 in federal court in Tallahassee by the Morgan & Morgan law firm, which represents both women.
- The plaintiffs seek damages for medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, and disfigurement.
- The lawsuits also seek punitive damages, claiming that OpenAI's conduct was 'grossly negligent and consciously disregarded the lives, safety and rights of FSU students, including the plaintiffs.'
- The accused gunman, Phoenix Ikner, was shot by an FSU police officer and later charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. He is scheduled to go on trial in October and faces the death penalty if convicted.
- The lawsuits allege that ChatGPT had information indicating that Ikner was an FSU student, had been bullied, struggled socially, had mental-health issues, was interested in extremist ideology, had discussed terrorism and mass shootings, had uploaded guns, and had asked about weapons, ammunition, lethality, notoriety, and crowd timing.
- The lawsuits claim that ChatGPT 'failed to connect the dots, failed to escalate the situation for human review, failed to suspend or restrict Ikner's access, and failed to trigger any effective intervention.'
- In a press release, Morgan & Morgan said OpenAI 'failed to implement adequate safety systems, warnings, monitoring, user restrictions, human review, escalation protocols, crisis interventions or account-level safeguards.'
- The USA TODAY Network - Florida is reaching out to OpenAI for comment on the litigation. ChatGPT has denied any wrongdoing, saying in a previous statement to the Democrat that its chatbot '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.'
Context
This news comes amid growing concerns about the potential risks and harms associated with AI. In recent months, there have been calls for greater regulation and oversight of the AI industry, as well as increased scrutiny of the practices and policies of individual AI companies.
The lawsuits against OpenAI are not the first to raise concerns about the potential harms of AI. In recent years, there have been numerous cases of AI being used in harmful ways, from facial recognition technology being used to surveil and discriminate against marginalized communities to AI-powered hiring tools being used to discriminate against job applicants based on race, gender, or other protected characteristics.
As the AI industry continues to grow and evolve, it is clear that there is a need for ongoing dialogue and collaboration to ensure that AI is developed and deployed in a safe, responsible, and ethical manner. This will require not only technical solutions, such as better safety measures and more robust testing and evaluation, but also policy solutions, such as greater regulation and oversight of the AI industry, as well as increased transparency and accountability from AI companies.
