DOWNTOWN TALLAHASSEE, FL — Attorneys on behalf of Tiru Chabba and his family, one of two people killed in the Florida State University shooting last April, have filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI.
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Bakari Sellers, Amy Willbanks of the Strom Law Firm, Gregorio Francis and J Robert Bell III of Osborne, Franics, and Pettis, and Jim Bannister of Bannister Wyatt and Stalvey are representing the Chabba family.
The lawsuit states they are seeking for "damages caused by the mass school shooting." Attorneys Monday said they are seeking accountability and answers.
The lawsuit alleged that Phoenix Ikner, the alleged gunman of the shooting, used ChatGPT's "input and assistance" to carry out the shooting.
The suit centers on what attorneys describe as a "supportive relationship" between ChatGPT and suspected gunman Phoenix Ikner leading up to the shooting.
Chabba, who lived in South Carolina, was an employee of a campus vendor — the reason he was at FSU the day of the shooting.
Attorney Bakari Sellers of the Strom Law Firm said the case is about more than one family's loss.
"It's making sure that other individuals like Ikner do not get their hands on weapons and are able to carry out mass murder with their co-conspirator, ChatGPT," Sellers said.
The lawsuit details the alleged interactions between Ikner and the chatbot, including records showing Ikner allegedly asked ChatGPT how many victims does it take to get on the media and "what about 3 plus at FSU."
The suit also claims ChatGPT should have "raised serious red flags" for human review.
Attorney Amy Willbanks, also of the Strom Law Firm, said the platform has a responsibility to its users.
"It also is trained, should be trained, to respond in an appropriate way, which is not to feed into the things that a user is trying to discuss with it when those things could lead to self-harm or harm to others," Willbanks said.
This is one of at least three lawsuits on the horizon for OpenAI, including one set to be filed by attorneys representing Robert Morales, the other person killed in the shooting, and the Attorney General of Florida.
Attorney Dean LeBoeuf of Brooks, LeBoeuf, Foster, Gwartney, & Hobbs P.A., who is representing Morales said they are aware of the lawsuit, working with these attorneys, and finalizing their lawsuit to decide where they want to file.
Drew Pusateri, a spokesperson for OpenAI sent ABC 27 a statement saying:
Last year's mass shooting at Florida State University was a tragedy, but ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime. After learning of the incident, we identified an account believed to be associated with the suspect and proactively shared this information with law enforcement. We continue to cooperate with authorities. In this case, ChatGPT provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources on the internet, and it did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activity. ChatGPT is a general-purpose tool used by hundreds of millions of people every day for legitimate purposes. We work continuously to strengthen our safeguards to detect harmful intent, limit misuse, and respond appropriately when safety risks arise.
The lawsuit anticipates OpenAI will invoke the Communications Decency Act as a defense against liability for content. However, attorneys argue that defense does not apply because the platform is not passive and actively engages with users with analysis.
University of Florida Professor Bill Hamilton raised the same question.
"They're actually engaged with the user. So the question then becomes, is that really covered by the Communications Decency Act? My sense is that the large language models have a little bit of the uphill battle on that one, as we're seeing lots of litigation going on around the nation," Hamilton said.
Attorneys representing Robert Morales, the other person killed during the FSU shooting, are also preparing to file suit against OpenAI over the same chat logs.
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