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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier compared the AI chat bot that the accused gunman communicated with in the 2025 mass shooting at Florida State University to an actual murderer.
During an April 21 news conference in Tampa, Uthmeier announced new details of a criminal investigation into ChatGPT and its parent company, OpenAI.
Uthmeier said a ChatGPT chat bot offered “significant advice” to the gunman in the April 17, 2025, mass shooting that left two people dead and five others injured. Phoenix Ikner, 21, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder.
The attorney general said the chat bot advised the shooter on which type of gun and ammunition to use, whether a gun would be useful at close range and what time of day and location would be best “to encounter a higher population.”
“My prosecutors have looked at this,” Uthmeier said, “and they’ve told me if it was a person on the other end of that screen, we would be charging them with murder.”
He went on to say that under Florida law, anyone who aids, abets or counsels someone in the commission of a crime is a principal in the first degree.
“Now, of course ChatGPT is not a person,” he said. “But that does not absolve our office, my prosecution team, of our duty to investigate whether or not there is criminal culpability here for a corporation.”
Uthmeier first announced his office’s investigation into OpenAI and ChatGPT on April 9, three days after the Tallahassee Democrat was the first to report on the link between the AI chat bot and Ikner, who faces the death penalty if convicted. The Democrat reported April 6 that the widow of Robert Morales, one of the two men killed in the attack, plans to sue Open AI and ChatGPT over the shooter’s use of the chat bot.
Morales, 57, served as dining coordinator at FSU, catering food to nearly 45,000 students, and was a restaurateur behind such popular eateries as Gordo’s Authentic Cuban Cuisine, which he co-founded, and the Black Bean Cafe. Also killed in the rampage was Tiru Chabba, 45, an employee of FSU vendor Aramark from Greenville, South Carolina.
In the days before the shooting, Ikner fed the ChatGPT bot he was speaking with specific shooting scenarios at FSU, according to chat logs obtained from prosecutors through a public records request.
He asked how many victims it would take for him to get national media attention. ChatGPT said there was “no official threshold” but that “3 or more people killed (excluding the gunman) is often the ** unofficial bar ** for widespread national media attention.”
He also inquired about pistol and shotgun ammo, uploading a photo at one point of 12-gauge shotgun shells.
“Are they really lethal in close range,” he asked.
“Yes 12 gauge shotgun shells are extremely lethal at close range,” the chatbot said.
Ikner allegedly brought two firearms to campus: a 12-gauge shotgun and a .45 caliber Glock, both taken from the home of his father and stepmother, a Leon County sheriff’s deputy. A grand jury found that he tried to shoot someone with the shotgun but it malfunctioned.
Uthmeier said during the news conference that holding companies liable for criminal conduct was “nothing new” citing Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, as an example. A judge was expected to impose a criminal sentence on the company later in the day for its role in the opioid crisis that includes forfeiture of $225 million.
“But we recognize here with AI we are venturing into uncharted territory,” he said. “But we need to know whether or not OpenAI has criminal liability.”
Uthmeier said the Attorney General’s Office would issue subpoenas April 21 seeking information between March 1, 2024, and April 17, 2026, about all policies and training materials involving “user threats of harm” to others or to themselves.
He said prosecutors also would examine policies and training regarding cooperation with law enforcement, including reporting of possible “past, present and future crimes.”
Also participating in the press conference were Mark Glass, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Rita Peters, special counsel to the attorney general.
Peters said AI is being “deliberately weaponized” by predators and child exploiters who manufacture abuse, target victims who were never physically touched and “scale these crimes at a speed and volume we have never seen before.”
“Florida, like other states, is experiencing a rapid and dangerous surge in AI-drive child sexual abuse material and deep fake exploitation, and it requires a direct and forceful response,” she said.
Uthmeier said that in addition to the criminal investigation into OpenAI, his office is continuing a civil inquiry into AI companies that knowingly engage in behavior that results in “significant harms.”
“We’ll see where that goes,” he said. “But I expect there will be legal action to commence.”
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
