TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – The family of an FSU employee killed in the 2025 shooting rampage on FSU’s campus has now filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman.
Robert Morales, FSU’s Dining Coordinator, was among those shot at the FSU Student Union on April 17, 2025.
Morales family attorney Dean LeBoeuf filed suit in Tallahassee federal court Monday to try to hold OpenAI accountable in his death.
“The family is committed to holding them accountable because they don’t want to see this happen to anyone else,” LeBoeuf said. “We need to put a stop to this. There needs to be accountability.”
The Morales family announced its intent to sue OpenAI last June.
The Morales’ family lawyer says recent settlement talks with Open AI attorneys in California failed and he moved forward with filing the suit in Tallahassee’s federal court Monday.
The 53-page lawsuit contends Open AI knew its product was dangerous and should have flagged comments by accused gunman Phoenix Ikner in the days, hours and minutes leading up to the shooting.
“It’s very, very, very clear that AI did not do what it needed to do, did not do what any reasonable person would have done in terms of, at the very least, disconnecting with Ikner and more appropriately referring him out to law enforcement or some other intervention to prevent this tragedy.”
ChatGPT logs released this spring revealed conversations between Ikner and an OpenAI chat bot continued up until minutes before the shooting. Those chats include questions about school shootings, media coverage, guns and the busiest times at the FSU Student Union.
FSU student Phoenix Ikner is facing two counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.
The filing comes just weeks after the trial of the accused gunman was delayed until June 8, 2027.
“It’s just devastating. I mean, any time anything like this happens, the continuation of the trial, you know, moving forward with this lawsuit, any healing that has started, this scab gets ripped off and it’s reignited. It’s very, very difficult,” LeBoeuf said.
The families of both FSU shooting victims and three survivors have already filed suit against OpenAI in federal court.
LeBoeuf says those cases are likely to be consolidated and he fully expects this case or another one like it to ultimately be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier has also filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI.
Another survivor, Alianna Grant, has filed suit against OpenAI in state court.
An OpenAI spokesperson said they continue to strengthen the program’s safeguards.
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.”
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