FSU Shooter Consulted ChatGPT About Attack Plans, Sexual Content Involving Minor
FSU shooter Phoenix Ikner asked ChatGPT how the country would react to a campus shooting just two hours before his deadly rampage, new evidence shows.
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — New evidence reveals that Florida State University shooter Phoenix Ikner consulted ChatGPT about his planned attack just two hours before opening fire, asking the AI platform how the country would react to a shooting at FSU.
“If there was a shooting at FSU, how would the country react?” the 20-year-old FSU student asked on the morning of April 17, 2025. ChatGPT responded by detailing how the school would lock down, national media would swarm, and the president would express condolences.
The exchange is among more than 13,000 messages between Ikner and the AI platform dating to March 2024, obtained by the Florida Phoenix from the Leon County State Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Ikner, who allegedly murdered two people and wounded five others at the student union just before noon last April.
Disturbing Pattern of Messages Revealed
The messages provide a rare glimpse into the mind of an accused killer before his rampage. Beyond asking about the shooting’s potential impact, Ikner’s conversations with ChatGPT included graphic sexual descriptions involving a minor and another college student, sexual conversations about family members, and repeated references to Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.
Hours before his question about the shooting, Ikner told the chatbot that God had abandoned him. He also consulted the AI platform about weapons, how Florida treats school shooters, and the busiest time at the student union where the attack occurred.
Legal Action and Investigation Underway
An attorney for the family of Robert Morales, a 57-year-old killed during the shooting, plans to sue the AI chatbot company. The lawsuit will allege that the platform may have facilitated the mass shooting.
The revelations have sparked new controversy over mental health and AI use, prompting Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to launch an investigation into ChatGPT’s role in Ikner’s attack. The messages shed light on an emerging debate about artificial intelligence’s potential influence on violent behavior.
Florida lawmakers, led by Governor Ron DeSantis, have attempted to address AI concerns through legislation. Their efforts included proposals to ban companion chatbots for minors and mandate that bots continually remind all users they are not human, though the house declined to advance the measure.
The case raises concerns about AI platforms’ potential role in facilitating violence and their interactions with users experiencing mental health crises. The extensive message log between Ikner and ChatGPT represents one of the most comprehensive records of an accused mass shooter’s pre-attack communications with artificial intelligence.
