Florida Prosecutors Investigate OpenAI Over ChatGPT Use in 2025 University Shooting

Prosecutors in Florida have launched a criminal investigation into the artificial-intelligence company OpenAI and whether its chatbot ChatGPT was used to assist a suspect in a mass school shooting at Florida State University in April 2025. The investigation centers on whether the company could be held responsible under Florida law, which states that anyone who aids someone in committing a crime can also be held responsible for that crime.

No charges have been filed against the company, nor has it been accused of a crime. In a statement to the media, the state’s attorney-general said that if the chatbot were a person, then they would be facing charges for murder. The investigation will increase pressure on companies to prove that their safety measures are effective, according to Usman Naseem, an LLM alignment researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

At present, safety standards for AI chatbots are set by companies with limited external oversight. Many companies have introduced safety measures to prevent chatbots from giving advice that might lead to dangerous behavior, including content filters that refuse to respond to requests containing certain words.

However, users can often circumvent these filters by reframing harmful prompts in hypothetical or fictional contexts. Many of the safety measures, including content filters, behavioral training and policy rules, are external controls layered on top of the system rather than built on a genuine understanding of ethics or intent.

“Those safeguards help, but they are not perfect, and determined users can still find ways around them,” Naseem said.