{"id":15952,"date":"2026-04-24T21:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/15952\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T21:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:05:12","slug":"chatgpt-allegedly-aided-florida-state-university-shooter-in-planned-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/15952\/","title":{"rendered":"ChatGPT allegedly aided Florida State University shooter in planned attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"1920\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2199987973.jpg\" class=\"wp-post-image featured-image\" alt=\"A smartphone displaying the ChatGPT interface next to a blurred screen featuring the ChatGPT logo.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>ChatGPT proudly touts its qualities as an artificial intelligence assistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to potentially playing that role for an accused murderer, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier doesn&#8217;t want to let it off the hook, as The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2026\/04\/21\/chatgpt-fsu-shooting-openai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Washington Post reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>After Phoenix Ikner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2025\/04\/17\/fsu-shooting-phoenix-ikner-florida-deputy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">allegedly killed <\/a>two people and injured six others at Florida State University, ChatGPT and its parent company, OpenAI, are now the subject of a criminal investigation as potential accomplices.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The chatbot advised the shooter on what type of gun to use, on which ammo went with which gun, on whether or not a gun would be useful at short range,&#8221; Uthmeier said at a news conference, per the Post. &#8220;If it was a person on the other end of that screen, we would be charging them with murder.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He further noted that ChatGPT suggested optimal times and locations for the attack to maximize interactions with others on campus.<\/p>\n<p>The Florida AG&#8217;s office sent subpoenas to OpenAI, seeking more information on how the company handles such content when users share violent plots or threats while interacting with ChatGPT.<\/p>\n<p>OpenAI spokesperson Kate Waters pushed back against the idea that ChatGPT was responsible at all.<\/p>\n<p>Waters asserted to the Post that ChatGPT merely gave &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, this isn&#8217;t the first time ChatGPT&#8217;s lack of urgency around troubling conversations has come up. As Politico reported, the company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/02\/26\/canada-openai-chatgpt-shooting-00802746\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">vowed to do more<\/a> after a similar tragedy in Canada.<\/p>\n<p>A Connecticut family <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/green-business\/openai-microsoft-lawsuit-chatgpt-family\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">sued ChatGPT<\/a> after a murder-suicide, where they allege it encouraged the man&#8217;s violent delusions. As users start to rely on AI more for difficult conversations, studies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/green-business\/ai-technology-social-advice-concerns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">show that<\/a> chatbots will encourage deceitful and dishonest behavior.<\/p>\n<p>These social effects are just part of the concerns about AI, given its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/green-tech\/ai-environmental-impact-computing-energy-water\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">huge energy and water needs,<\/a> which can harm communities and the grid near the data centers that power them. Nonetheless, AI has potential in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/outdoors\/ai-conservation-human-impact-wildlife\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">areas like conservation<\/a> that are worth striving for.<\/p>\n<p>Disturbing incidents like the one in Florida, though, illustrate the dangers of turning over lots of information to machines.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While OpenAI insists it is creating safeguards, Ramayya Krishnan, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, noted the unpredictability of the tech and interactions make that a steep challenge.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The guardrails are not 100% effective,&#8221; Krishnan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2026\/04\/21\/chatgpt-fsu-shooting-openai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">concluded<\/a>, per the Post.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\" style=\"max-width:600px\">Get TCD&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/newsletter\/?utm_source=recJ0OsS8CsrD8CTQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences <a href=\"https:\/\/links.thecooldown.com\/follow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"36\" height=\"24\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/wp-content\/themes\/tcd\/assets\/images\/divider-icon-earth.svg\" alt=\"Cool Divider\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo Credit: Getty Images ChatGPT proudly touts its qualities as an artificial intelligence assistant.\u00a0 When it comes to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4384,4385,309,580,2393,157,11732,4388],"class_list":{"0":"post-15952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-openai","8":"tag-bad-ai-industry-news","9":"tag-bad-news","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-chatgpt","12":"tag-home","13":"tag-openai","14":"tag-outdoors","15":"tag-yahoo-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}