Florida sues OpenAI, alleging it’s unsafe for children

By Hadas Gold, CNN

(CNN) — Florida is suing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging they know ChatGPT is not safe, especially for minors.

The state becomes the first to sue OpenAI over the alleged dangers of its product.

“Sam Altman and ChatGPT have chosen the AI race over the safety and security of our kids. They have chosen profit over public safety, and we’re not going to stand for it here in Florida,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said at a press conference on Monday.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in Florida’s tenth circuit, accuses OpenAI of deceptive and unfair trade practices, negligence and violating product liability laws. It also seeks to hold Altman “personally liable for the harm he has caused Floridians,” including his alleged “utter disregard for the risk to human life caused by his firms’ conduct.”

The lawsuit lists a litany of accusations against ChatGPT, including helping mass shooters, encouraging suicide, causing “public humiliation,” getting minors addicted to a tool with “no parental oversight” and causing users to lose “critical thinking skills.”

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Uthemier said they ultimately need OpenAI to “change their programming” and that they could be liable for “potentially billions of dollars.”

The lawsuit specifically focuses on accusations that OpenAI lacks effective parental controls for young users, noting the free version of ChatGPT has “no gatekeeping or age verification mechanism” and that OpenAI does not require children’s accounts to be linked to a parent’s account.

The lawsuit also says that even if accounts are linked, OpenAI will only notify parents of concerning content in “limited situations” and “in no event can a parent request access to what information a child has provided ChatGPT.”

The civil lawsuit builds on the first ever criminal investigation into OpenAI which Uthmeier launched in April, over whether the company “bears criminal responsibility” for a mass shooting at Florida State University last year.

The accused shooter in that case had extensive conversations with ChatGPT in the leadup to the shooting, including on specifics about mass shootings at the university and advice on how to use the weapons, Florida authorities allege.

OpenAI said at the time that the shooting “was a tragedy, but ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime.”

“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,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in April.

Uthmeier said he expects other states to join his effort.

Several states have taken action against other AI companies. In May, Pennsylvania sued Character.AI, accusing its chatbot of posing as doctors (Character.AI said they’ve taken “robust steps” to make it clear their AI bots are not real.)

In January, Kentucky also sued the company behind Character.AI for “preying on children” and leading “them into self-harm.” Character.AI said at the time its “highest priority is safety” and that it is developing “robust safety features” for minors.

The-CNN-Wire
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