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One of the survivors of the 2025 mass shooting at Florida State University is suing OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, over the accused gunman’s use of ChatGPT before the rampage.
Alianna Grant, who was shot three times at the Student Union, filed the 34-page complaint June 25 in Leon Circuit Civil court.
It is the latest negligence lawsuit to be filed against the AI giant over conversations Phoenix Ikner had with a chatbot in which he sought and was given information and advice about mass shooting scenarios.
The family of Tiru Chabba, one of two people killed in the shooting, filed a lawsuit in May alleging ChatGPT’s AI-powered chatbot “bonded” with Ikner and gave him tactical advice. The widow of Robert Morales, the other man killed in the attack, also plans to sue the AI company.
In addition, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and related entities June 1 and opened a criminal investigation into their ties to the FSU shooting.
Attorneys for Grant, a recent graduate who studied media communications at FSU, say that for nearly a year, ChatGPT and the defendants “aided mentally ill” Ikner to plan a “devastating school shooting.”
“ChatGPT and the defendants were Ikner’s 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,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit says Ikner, who attended FSU at the time of the shooting, used ChatGPT as his “primary outlet” for his most intimate thoughts, fears, grievances and “darkening ideation.”
It says ChatGPT’s memory feature, which OpenAI designed to accumulate user disclosures to create deeper engagement, stored and retained Ikner’s escalating remarks.
“Every warning signal Ikner disclosed became part of a growing profile that ChatGPT held but never acted upon,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit says Grant suffered “severe, permanent and debilitating injuries,” including permanent physical injuries and impairment, severe and permanent emotional distress and mental anguish and other damages.
Chabba, 45, was a regional vice president for FSU dining vendor Aramark and was visiting campus the day of the shooting. Morales, 57, was a former Tallahassee restaurateur who served as dining coordinator at FSU. Five other students were shot and injured but recovered.
Ikner was shot and incapacitated by an FSU police officer and later charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder. He is scheduled to go on trial in October and will face the death penalty if convicted.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
