DOWNTOWN TALLAHASSEE, Fl — Tallahassee attorneys expect to file a lawsuit against ChatGPT "within 30 days, hopefully less" in relation to the Florida State University shooting.
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Records from the State Attorney's Office reveal conversations between the chatbot and the alleged gunman leading up to the shooting, including asking when the Florida State University Student Union is the busiest - the location of the shooting on April 17th, 2025.
Dean LeBoeuf, of the Law Firm Brooks, LeBoeuf, Foster, Gwortney & Hobbs, represents the family of Robert Morales. Morales worked as the dining coordinator at the University and was one of two people killed in the shooting.
"I've been doing this for over 40 years. I've seen lots of tragedy. I've seen lots of loss. And I can tell you, I have never seen a family more devastated by this senseless murder," LeBoeuf said.
"ChatGPT, for lack of a better word, befriended him, worked on developing a relationship with him, and then as the communications evolved into mass shootings, and how many people would need to be shot for him to get media attention, ChatGPT did nothing to try and dissuade him from those decisions," LeBoeuf said.
OpenAI sent ABC 27 a statement earlier this week responding to the news of the lawsuit.
“Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this devastating tragedy. After learning of the incident in late April 2025, we identified a ChatGPT account believed to be associated with the suspect, proactively shared this information with law enforcement and cooperated with authorities. We build ChatGPT to understand people's intent and respond in a safe and appropriate way, and we continue improving our technology.”
Bill Hamilton, a professor at the University of Florida, said Artificial Intelligence AI is a huge topic right now in the discovery world because it provides a direct look into conversations individuals are having with themselves.
"It's almost like peering into their own thought process, which is incredibly revealing and important evidence. So yes, this is all discoverable and it's opening up a new frontier in the litigation process," Hamilton said.
ABC 27 has spoken with experts who said big tech companies might use Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as a defense so they cannot be held liable for content.
Hamilton is not sure the act would apply because the bot produces content.
"Well, you know, the large language models are a little bit different. You know, they actually produce content. So it's not as though they're just passive recipients and hosts. 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.
Florida's Attorney General announced a similar investigation into OpenAI Thursday. LeBoeuf said he looks forward to working with the Attorney General to hold ChatGPT accountable.
Phoenix Ikner, the alleged gunman of the FSU shooting, who currently faces 9 charges for the incident, has his next case management on May 26th.
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