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Florida has shifted the OpenAI story out of the tech lane and into a state investigation. Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office will examine whether ChatGPT played a role in the 2025 shooting at Florida State University, with subpoenas on the way.
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The legal threat came before any courtroom filing. Uthmeier said Florida is demanding answers from OpenAI over conduct that he claimed has endangered Americans and helped facilitate the FSU shooting. He also said subpoenas are forthcoming.
That announcement followed a new allegation from lawyers for one of the shooting victims. They said last week that ChatGPT had been used to help plan the attack, and the family has said it intends to sue OpenAI.
So the focus is no longer only on product safety in the abstract. Florida is now testing whether a state investigation can connect chatbot use to real-world violence in a case that already carries major public weight after the April 2025 campus attack left 2 dead and 5 injured.
Uthmeier framed the issue in stark terms, saying: “AI should advance mankind, not destroy it.” He added that OpenAI activities had “hurt kids, endangered Americans, and facilitated the recent FSU mass shooting.”
OpenAI response was narrower. The company said more than 900 million people use ChatGPT each week, pointed to ongoing safety work, and said it will cooperate with the attorney general investigation.
The state action also lands at a sensitive time for the company. Reuters reported that the Florida probe arrives as OpenAI prepares for a potential IPO that could value the company at as much as $1 trillion.