Widow of Florida State University Shooting Victim Sues OpenAI

The widow of a man killed in the April 2025 mass shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Sunday in federal court. Vandana Joshi brought the action on behalf of the family of Tiru Chabba, one of two people killed when 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner opened fire on campus. Phoenix Ikner carried out the attack using his mother's service weapon.

His mother is a Leon County sheriff's deputy. Two people were killed and six people were wounded. Tiru Chabba, age 45, was working for the food service vendor Aramark on campus at the time of the shooting.

Robert Morales, age 57, who worked on the Florida State University campus, was also killed. State authorities disclosed that ChatGPT gave the shooter information about what time and location would maximise victims on campus. The artificial intelligence chatbot also provided details on the type of gun and ammunition to use.

Authorities said he was told that an attack can get more media attention if children are involved. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened a criminal investigation in April 2026 into whether ChatGPT offered advice to Phoenix Ikner that enabled the April 2025 shooting. Phoenix Ikner has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and several counts of attempted murder.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against him. The lawsuit argues that OpenAI should have built ChatGPT with safety measures to alert authorities to prevent a specific plan for imminent harm to the public. It claims the company failed to warn the public or properly represent the risks of the chatbot.

The filing states that Ikner spent months discussing imminent harm with the AI, sought guidance on using the gun, and talked about other mass shootings, his interest in Adolf Hitler, and his loneliness and depression. Vandana Joshi said in a statement on Monday, “OpenAI knew this would happen.

” “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,” OpenAI spokesman Drew Pusateri said in an email.

The company has stated that it works continuously to strengthen safeguards to detect harmful intent, limit misuse, and respond appropriately when safety risks arise. It also helped identify the suspect's account. The lawsuit was filed on May 10 or May 11 2026.

The family of Tiru Chabba seeks to hold OpenAI accountable for the chatbot's alleged role in the tragedy that occurred last year on the Florida State University campus.