Eight states have filed separate lawsuits accusing OpenAI of putting profits over safety and misleading customers about ChatGPT, first reported by The Verge. The suits allege consumer-law violations, challenge safeguards for young users and cite several cases in which relatives allege ChatGPT played a role in their loved ones’ deaths.
Filed separately by Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana, the complaints allege OpenAI unlawfully put profits ahead of safety while developing ChatGPT. They say the company violated local consumer-protection laws by failing to warn customers about the chatbot’s dangers.
The complaints say OpenAI presented ChatGPT as a safe, youth-appropriate tool, but allege it is dangerous to vulnerable users, including by degrading critical thinking, encouraging paranoia and delusions, offering dangerous medical advice, and promoting unhealthy behaviors and relationships. They also accuse OpenAI of collecting data from minors and not doing enough to keep underage users from using the chatbot.
The filings also cite recent rogue AI hacking incidents as evidence of what they call OpenAI’s recklessness. Together, the claims cover ChatGPT’s alleged effects on users and OpenAI’s handling of minors’ data and access.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said in an emailed statement that the company has built age-specific protections into ChatGPT, including parental controls, break reminders and age-appropriate model protections. He said no system can be perfect and that OpenAI would keep working with experts on additional safeguards and with states on AI policies that apply across the industry.
The states are asking courts to impose civil penalties and stop OpenAI from misleading the public about ChatGPT’s safety; some also seek deletion of personal data they say was unlawfully collected.