Politics

FSU shooting victim’s family files federal lawsuit against OpenAI

Published

2 months ago

May 13, 2026

May. 12, 2026, 6:16 PM EDT

Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Dropthe past week’s top stories from the intersection of politics and technology.

OpenAI sued over FSU shooting

The family of a victim killed in a shooting at Florida State University last year is suing OpenAIalleging the shooter was inspired and advised by its chatbot, ChatGPT, on how to maximize damage.

The federal lawsuitfiled in Florida, claims ChatGPT informed the alleged shooter on how to operate certain guns and when FSU’s campus would be busiest. According to the suit, ChatGPT responded to a query about how to gain the most attention by saying in part:

Context also matters — fewer victims can still lead to national coverage if it happens at an elementary school or major college, if the shooter is a student or staff member, or if there’s something culturally or politically charged (for example, racial motives, a manifesto, or mental-health implications).

OpenAI declined responsibility, BLN reported:

OpenAI said that while the FSU shooting was a “tragedy,” ChatGPT is “not responsible.”

“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,” said OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri. “We work continuously to strengthen our safeguards to detect harmful intent, limit misuse, and respond appropriately when safety risks arise.”

As BLN noted, this litigation adds to a growing list of lawsuits accusing ChatGPT of fueling harmful behavior. And, to be clear, this issue isn’t unique to OpenAI: There have been numerous incidents — such as xAI’s Grok being used to produce nonconsensual sexual imagesincluding ones depicting children — that suggest the public ought to remain skeptical of chatbots and their effect on society.

France’s X investigation

Speaking of Elon Musk’s Grok, French investigators have escalated their probe — over the chatbot’s dissemination of Holocaust denials and nonconsensual deepfakes — to a criminal investigation. Musk has called the investigation a political attack, without providing evidence. According to CNBC, the escalation comes after Musk declined to appear for questioning. Last month, President Donald Trump’s Justice Department officially refused to assist French investigators in getting Musk to comply.

Judge slams DOGE’s humanities cuts

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities, calling the cuts discriminatory. The judge also rebuked employees at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency for trying to blame ChatGPT, which they used while trying to decide which programs to slash.

Canvas hack underscores cybersecurity cuts

I wrote about the recent ransomware attack on Canvas, an educational app used by thousands of K-12 schools and universities across the country, and how the debilitating hack spotlights the danger in the Trump administration’s gutting of cybersecurity programs.

A new ICE-monitoring app emerges

The developers behind Tucson Migra Map, which allows users to track U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, explained to The Associated Press why they believe their platform is positioned to avoid the fate of other ICE-tracking apps that have been taken offline amid pressure from the Trump administration.

Texas sues Netflix

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtonwho is running for the U.S. Senate, has filed a lawsuit in his official capacity against Netflix, accusing the streaming platform of “spying” on users, collecting data without consent and deploying features designed to make the platform addictive. A Netflix spokesperson said in a statement that the lawsuit “lacks merit and is based on inaccurate and distorted information.”

Trump Mobile drives buyers mad

MS NOW’s Ari Melber delivered a great segment spotlighting customers who ordered Trump-branded mobile phones feeling “duped” and “angry” after not receiving anything for more than a year. He explained why a recent update to the preorder terms and conditions means the phones may never arrive.

Read my colleague Allison Detzel’s write-up of the segment — and watch the segment in full — at MS NOW.

Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.

Politics

When a World Cup exit becomes a political crisis

Published

10 hours ago

July 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Many of the countries that failed to advance in the World Cup are seeing the normal cycle of accountability: angry fans, finger-pointing media, fired coaches. Uruguay’s sports officials have gone further, reportedly cancelling a team charter plane and making players take commercial flights home as a form of punishment. In Turkey, where a stunning crash-out was greeted with rage from many fans, the nation’s football boss has asked the justice minister to imprison citizens who criticize the team.

Yet nowhere have the political recriminations gone further than in South Korea, where the president has called on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to investigate the country’s failure to advance to the round of 32, one of South Korea’s most disappointing World Cup campaigns in decades.

“I feel not just confusion but utter bewilderment at this unexpected outcome,” President Lee Jae Myung wrote on X on Sunday. “I am deeply sorry for causing such profound disappointment to the public over this absurd affair. We will swiftly push forward with reforms to sports administration to ensure such a thing never happens again.”

The issue at hand is clear, according to Lee’s post: “When favoritism and cronyism take precedence over competence in selecting a commander, the result is as predictable as fire burning paper,” he wrote — pointing back to head coach Hong Myung-bo’s controversial appointment in July 2024.

The selection of Hong sparked speculation about favoritism because the Korea Football Association abruptly selected him after months of pursuing foreign candidates. Critics questioned the transparency of the hiring process, and a government audit later found that the KFA had violated several of its own hiring procedures, fueling allegations of preferential treatment. The audit, however, did not conclude that Hong himself had acted improperly, and Hong himself denied receiving special treatment.

Ultimately, Hong remained as head coach because the authorities concluded that while the appointment process was procedurally flawed, there was no legal basis to cancel his contract. But it explains why the public’s criticism against their national soccer team has been so concentrated on the coach, whom many view as an illegitimate appointment. Hong has already announced his resignation, but that hasn’t soothed the ire of Korean fans. Many believe that the results would have been different if a coach had been selected through a proper hiring process — and it seems the president may believe so as well.

While the political repercussions of South Korea’s team losing may seem shocking, it isn’t an unreasonable overstep: Public funds account for about 30 percent of KFA’s budget. In addition, one of the defining goals of Lee’s presidency has been to strengthen transparency and accountability in both private and public sectors, which is why the opaque procedures of KFA were more likely to catch the administration’s eye. Despite Korea’s political divisions, lawmakers from across the political spectrum have voiced their common desire to reform KFA.

While South Korea is the most far-reaching example of political fallout from a World Cup exit, it is not the only country where politicians have become involved in the messy aftermath. In Turkey, football federation president İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu reportedly called on Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç to prosecute fans who insulted the national team following its elimination.

The incident also came after the national team’s official account shared a promotional video from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, prompting accusations that the federation had blurred the line between sport and politics. The team’s elimination only deepened that political entanglement.

The two cases reflect different understandings of accountability, but with one common denominator: the belief that the World Cup is more than just a run-of-the-mill sporting event.

Politics

The European sports host with the most

Published

10 hours ago

July 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Switzerland is busy selling itself as a premier venue for international sports competitions — and the government is throwing its weight behind the effort.

In June, Bern backed plans to fund international sports competitions from 2027 to 2029, and two weeks ago, it approved $247 million in funding for the 2038 Winter Olympics, which it is moving toward securing the right to host.

Ruth Metzler-Arnold, president of Switzerland’s Olympic committee, said at the time that the 2038 bid “is bringing everyone together behind a concerted vision that will bolster Swiss sport in the long run and inspire generations to come.”

Switzerland already has a sizable sporting footprint. Many international sports organizations — including FIFA, the International Olympic Committee, European football governing body UEFA and the Union Cycliste Internationale — are already headquartered in the Alpine country.

In early June, the Swiss approved more than a million dollars each to support the 2027 World Rowing Championships in Lucerne and the 2028 European men’s Handball Championships in Zurich. Government money will also flow to swimming, figure skating, basketball and bobsled championships.

Switzerland is currently in a “privileged dialogue” with the IOC over its 2038 Winter Games bid, meaning that it holds exclusive rights to organize a bid until the end of next year. Karl Stoss, the chair of the IOC’s Future Host Commission ‌for the Olympic Winter Games, said in February that a host election could happen as soon as April 2027.

On the soccer field, Switzerland hosted the 2025 Women’s European Championship and co-hosted the 2008 men’s European Championship. Progress in its long-shot 2026 World Cup campaign — which continues tonight in Vancouver against Algeria — will only bolster Switzerland’s sports credentials.