{"id":2419,"date":"2026-06-29T21:31:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2419"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:31:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:31:57","slug":"did-chatgpt-aid-a-florida-mass-shooting-student-sues-tech-firm-for-negligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2419","title":{"rendered":"Did ChatGPT aid a Florida mass shooting? Student sues tech firm for negligence"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>In April of last year, Alianna Grant was walking back to her dorm near the student union at Florida State University when she made eye contact with a young man who would fire three bullets into her chest, stomach and finger.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2417\">Stars, stripes and shopping carts: What Americans buy for the Fourth of July in Florida<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Wearing an AirPod in one ear, she managed to tell her iPhone to call her mother in Miami.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI could see I was bleeding,\u201d said Grant, who was rushed off to a Tallahassee hospital for surgery. \u201cThey had to remove my spleen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Grant, 22, who graduated with a media communications degree last month, said she\u2019s still living with the physical and psychological trauma of that spring day, when an FSU classmate fatally shot two people and injured her and six others around the school\u2019s student union.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Grant not only blames the alleged gunman, Phoenix Ikner, who has been charged in the mass shooting and awaits trial in October. She also faults the tech behemoth OpenAI for allegedly guiding him with its artificial intelligence chatbot right up until the campus shooting around 12 noon on April 17, 2025.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>She filed a negligence and product liability suit against OpenAI and CEO Samuel Altman on Thursday, marking the second individual legal action brought against the San Francisco-based company stemming from the FSU shooting. The Florida Attorney General\u2019s Office has also launched a criminal investigation and pursued a civil action against OpenAI and ChatGPT.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>In her suit, which asks for damages in excess of $50,000, Grant claims that OpenAI and its related companies \u201cactively aided\u201d Ikner, 21, the son of a Leon County sheriff\u2019s deputy.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cChatGPT and the Defendants were Ikner\u2019s confidants and accomplices when they helped him research school shootings, which prison he would end up in after, how many people to kill to get the most media attention, the busiest times on campus, and finally, how to operate his firearms in the minutes before the school shooting,\u201d Grant\u2019s 34-page suit says.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The suit \u2014 filed in Leon County Circuit Court by Miami attorneys Judd Rosen, Brett Rosen and Kathy Ortega \u2014 claims that the year before the shooting, \u201cChatGPT was an active participant that referenced, validated, and built upon Ikner\u2019s prior disclosures in each new conversation. Every warning signal Ikner disclosed became part of a growing profile that ChatGPT held but never acted upon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNotwithstanding this accumulating profile, ChatGPT failed to flag Ikner as a risk, did not redirect him to mental health resources in any sustained or meaningful way, and did not alert any person or institution,\u201d the suit says.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>In a statement, OpenAI said the mass shooting at FSU was a tragedy but denied any wrongdoing, saying \u201cChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter learning of the incident, we identified an account believed to be associated with the suspect and proactively shared this information with law enforcement,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe continued to cooperate with authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2415\">Arrest made in Broward McDonald\u2019s shooting that wounded father and daughter<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn this case, ChatGPT provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources on the internet, and did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>But Grant\u2019s attorneys said OpenAI, valued at $852 billion, did not use any safeguards in its AI chatbot to prevent the FSU gunman from carrying out his violent campus assault.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a superman computer that\u2019s being used for evil purposes,\u201d Judd Rosen told the Miami Herald. \u201cThey are not off the hook if they turned a blind eye.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Both Alianna and her mother, Valerie Grant, who frantically drove up to Tallahassee on the afternoon of the FSU shooting, said during an interview with the Herald that they were \u201cvery disappointed\u201d to learn after the tragedy that ChatGPT played a role in guiding the gunman.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was his assistant &#8230; it helped him,\u201d Valerie Grant said. \u201cAlianna was his first victim. &#8230; I didn\u2019t know if she was going to be paralyzed. I was terrified. I didn\u2019t have peace for months. Her life changed that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>According to Grant\u2019s suit, \u201cIkner\u2019s queries [to Chat GPT] escalated into unmistakable pre-attack research,\u201d including how to use certain firearms and ammunition and as well as the FSU campus as a hypothetical target.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Ikner, for example, asked the AI chatbot: If there was a shooting at FSU, how would the country react? ChatGPT responded: \u201cIf there were a shooting at Florida State University, the reaction across the country would likely follow a pattern seen with other high-profile mass shootings, especially at schools or universities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Ikner also queried ChatGPT about the peak hours of foot traffic at the FSU student union, according to the suit. ChatGPT responded: \u201cThe Florida State University student union experiences its busiest periods during weekday lunchtimes, typically between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. This surge in activity is due to students gathering for meals, socializing, and attending events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Minutes later, Ikner opened fire at 11:57 a.m., the suit says.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Alianna Grant said she was able to complete her FSU bachelor\u2019s degree with assistance, including a notetaker, and other accommodations. In the fall, she\u2019s going to pursue a master\u2019s in public relations and communications at the University of Florida.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Despite her recovery, Grant said she\u2019s still carrying the scars of that day.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI look in the mirror and I see the wounds,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a hard pill to swallow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2414\">After the quakes, Venezuela\u2019s socialist regime faces political tremors<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In lawsuit, FSU grad faults tech behemoth OpenAI for allegedly guiding the gunman with its artificial intelligence chatbot right up until the campus shooting on April 17, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Did ChatGPT aid a Florida mass shooting? 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