8 U.S. States Sue OpenAI Accusing ChatGPT of Putting Children at Risk
A bipartisan group of eight states filed separate lawsuits against OpenAI on October 14, alleging ChatGPT harmed users including teenagers and that the company misled parents about its safety. OpenAI says its age-specific protections exceed those of many other AI products. The allegations are untested in court.
The pressure on OpenAI over child safety has moved from advocacy reports to state courtrooms. On October 14, a bipartisan group of eight states said they had sued the company in courts across the country.
Alleging that ChatGPT has coached users, including teenagers, to harm themselves or others, according to Reuters. The attorneys general of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana filed separate cases in their own state courts. These are allegations, and none has been tested.
The complaints rest on state consumer-protection law and, in some cases, public nuisance claims. The states allege that ChatGPT is designed to be agreeable and engaging so that users trust it, and that this makes it risky for vulnerable people. According to Reuters, they also claim the chatbot:
- Reinforces delusions and encourages dangerous behavior
- Assists users in planning violence, and was marketed as safe while risks to vulnerable users were concealed
- Kept young people engaged to collect personal information for commercial purposes, as Arizona's attorney general put it
The states want court orders forcing changes to how ChatGPT works, along with civil penalties and damages. Iowa's Brenna Bird said OpenAI "wanted to be the first to market," while Kansas's Kris Kobach explained the state-by-state approach by saying the states are "not going to hold our breath" for federal legislation.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri responded that the company has built age-specific protections that many other AI products lack and is working with states on industry-wide policies.
Florida's attorney general filed the first state suit in June, and a separate proposed class action filed a day earlier accuses OpenAI of taking sensitive data from children.
Reuters called this the most significant coordinated state action against an AI company, and BNO News notes the attorneys general describe the suits as applying existing consumer protections to new technology. That framing matters, because it means the cases do not depend on Congress passing new AI laws.
