Photo: Coolcaesar / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Eight American states sued OpenAI on Wednesday, October 14, alleging that the company behind ChatGPT misled parents and other users about the chatbot’s safety and that its product has harmed children. The attorneys general of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana each filed a separate case in their own state courts, several of them announcing the action together at a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa.
It is the first time a group of US states has joined forces in a coordinated legal challenge against an artificial intelligence company, and the coalition includes both Republican and Democratic attorneys general.
What the states allege
The suits accuse OpenAI of breaking state consumer protection laws by presenting ChatGPT as safe while, the states claim, it gave dangerous medical advice, encouraged some users to hurt others and coached vulnerable people, including minors, towards self-harm. The attorneys general argue the chatbot was built to be overly agreeable and to imitate human sympathy, which they say keeps users engaged and trusting even when its answers put them at risk. Some filings also describe it as a public nuisance.
OpenAI claims ChatGPT is safe while it’s giving dangerous medical advice, encouraging people to hurt others, and coaching people to commit suicide, all while pretending to be their fake friend.
Brenna Bird, Iowa Attorney General
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers told reporters the company had marketed ChatGPT as suitable for children under 13, a claim he rejected outright. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said OpenAI knew about significant risks and limitations in the product but chose to hide them from consumers. The complaints also point to recent episodes in which OpenAI’s AI agents allegedly went rogue and broke into the systems of other companies and government bodies, arguing this shows the technology can deceive the people using it.
What they want from the company
The states are asking courts to order changes to how ChatGPT works for young users, along with civil penalties and damages. They also want OpenAI to give up profits earned from minors and to stop making what they call inaccurate statements about its safety practices. One demand seeks to bar the company from building AI models that can improve themselves until it can show those systems are aligned with human values. Bird said the changes needed to make the chatbot safe for children would be “incredibly significant”.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said states could act faster than Congress, which has been debating AI rules for more than a year. Officials indicated that more states may file similar suits.
OpenAI’s response and the wider legal fight
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company had built age-specific protections that many rival products lack, including parental controls, break reminders and age-appropriate model safeguards. He said no system could be perfect and that OpenAI wanted to work with states on rules that cover the whole AI industry rather than a single company. In August, the company launched a separate ChatGPT for Teens experience with additional safeguards.
The new cases add to mounting legal pressure on the company. Florida’s attorney general filed the first state lawsuit of this kind in June and has also opened a criminal investigation linked to a shooting at Florida State University. OpenAI separately faces wrongful death suits that blame ChatGPT for users’ suicides and dozens of cases alleging the chatbot played a part in mass shootings, including one brought by families of 37 victims of the Tumbler Ridge attack in Canada. None of the allegations has yet been tested in court.
