Florida launches criminal probe of ChatGPT's role in mass shooting

Florida attorney general James Uthmeier announced Tuesday that the state launched a criminal investigation into OpenAI and its flagship product, the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT.

The investigation centers on the use of ChatGPT by a gunman who allegedly shot several people at Florida State University in April 2025. The shooting killed two people and injured five others. The suspect, a former student at Florida State University in his early 20s, is awaiting trial for multiple charges of murder and attempted murder.

"Unfortunately, what we've seen in our initial review is that ChatGPT offered significant advice to the shooter before he committed such heinous crimes," Uthmeier said at a news conference on Tuesday, according to NBC Miami.

Uthmeier offered several examples of such exchanges, including one in which the suspect allegedly asked about the gun's short range power and the type of ammunition the gun used. The New York Times reported that the suspect also prompted the chatbot to answer questions about how the country would respond to a shooting at FSU.

Florida law may consider anyone who aids, abets, or counsels someone in a committed or attempted crime as a principal to that crime.

In a published statement, Uthmeier said that "...if ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder."

Mashable contacted OpenAI for comment but didn't receive a response prior to publication.

The criminal investigation follows an initial probe launched earlier this month by Uthmeier into ChatGPT's links to "criminal behavior," including the FSU shooting, as well as child sex abuse and the "encouragement of suicide and self-harm."

The investigation seeks, among other evidence, OpenAI's policies and internal training materials related to user threats directed toward other people between March 2024 and April 2026.

A recent report published by the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that many AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, helped test users posing as 13-year-old boys plan violence, including school shootings, knife attacks, political assassinations, and bombing synagogues or political party offices.

At the time, OpenAI said it had since introduced a new model different from the one tested jointly by CNN and the Center for Countering Digital Hate. It is unclear which ChatGPT model the alleged FSU shooter used.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.