Widow sues ChatGPT maker OpenAI over husband's death in mass shooting at Florida State University

A woman who claims ChatGPT contributed to her husband's death in a mass shooting is suing its maker.

Tiru Chabba was one of two killed in an attack at Florida State University in April last year. Six others were wounded.

Prosecutors last month began their own criminal probe into whether ChatGPT - which is owned by Open AI - played a part in the tragedy.

Florida's attorney general James Uthmeier said the chatbot had advised the suspect, Phoenix Ikner, on what gun and ammunition to use.

"If ⁠it was a person on ⁠the other end of that screen, we would be charging them with murder," he said.

In a statement on Monday, Mr Chabba's wife, Vandana Joshi, said: "OpenAI knew this would happen. It's happened before, and it was only a matter of time before it happened again."

She claimed the firm had "put their profits over our safety, and it killed my husband".

OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri denied wrongdoing, and called the shooting a "terrible crime".

He said the chatbot had given the alleged gunman "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".

Ikner, 21, was said to have been a student at FSU at the time of the shooting, and the son of a sheriff's deputy.

He faces two counts of first-degree murder, and several counts of attempted first-degree murder. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty.

Ms Joshi's lawsuit follows others that have sought damages from AI and tech companies over the influence of chatbots and social media.

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The family of Adam Raine, a teenager who took his own life, began a lawsuit against OpenAI last year after claiming ChatGPT encouraged his suicide.

The company denies being liable for his death. and said in a blog post that if someone expressed such intent then the chatbot was trained to direct them towards crisis services, such as Samaritans in the UK.

However, it admitted its systems "can fall short", and said it was "working to improve".

In March, a jury in LA also found Meta and Google liable for a 20-year-old's social media addiction in a landmark lawsuit.

In New Mexico, a jury said Meta knowingly harmed children's mental health, and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

(c) Sky News 2026: Widow sues ChatGPT maker OpenAI over husband's death in mass shooting at Florida State Univer