Lawsuit planned against ChatGPT over alleged link to accused FSU gunman

Phoenix Ikner, the accused gunman in the April 17, 2025, mass shooting that left two dead and six injured at Florida State University, was in “constant communication” with ChatGPT, a leading AI chatbot, before the rampage, according the lawyer for one of the victims’ widow.

Ryan Hobbs, a Tallahassee attorney representing Betty Morales, whose husband, Robert Morales, was killed during the attack, told the Tallahassee Democrat that a lawsuit will be filed “very soon” against ChatGPT in connection with the shooting.

“We have been advised that the shooter was in constant communication with ChatGPT leading up to the shooting,” Hobbs said in an email. “We also have reason to believe that ChatGPT may have advised the shooter how to commit these heinous crimes.”

Hobbs, a shareholder with Brooks, LeBoeuf, Foster, Gwartney & Hobbs, P.A., said the firm plans to sue both ChatGPT and its ownership structure. OpenAI owns ChatGPT and counts Microsoft as its single-biggest investor.

Read more: Tallahassee Democrat