Bipartisan Coalition Of States Sues Openai Over User Safety

Eight states sued OpenAI on Wednesday, alleging the artificial intelligence company has been misleading users about the safety of ChatGPT.

Wednesday’s lawsuits — which were filed by state attorneys general in their respective state courts — come amid a push from the top lawyers of blue and red states to challenge the growing AI industry.

The attorneys general allege the company’s failure to provide safeguards has encouraged suicide, self-harm and violence among its users, including teenagers, and its operations violate various state procedures.

“OpenAI knew that products this powerful required meaningful safeguards. Its leaders publicly acknowledged the risks, and its employees repeatedly raised serious safety concerns,” the lawsuit filed in Arkansas said. “As these warnings mounted, OpenAI did not slow down. It held its foot on the gas, releasing increasingly powerful models without adequate safeguards or testing as growth and profits repeatedly took priority over safety.”

The coalition of eight states also includes Arizona, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, and West Virginia. All of the states except for Arizona have a Republican attorney general.

The states are seeking court orders that would force the company to change safety operations and strengthen protections for children and award damages to the states.

“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,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement.

This is not the first lawsuit launched against the AI company. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier brought a lawsuit against the company in June over claims that it has pushed and marketed an unsafe product. Last month, Uthmeier also sought an injunction to stop OpenAI from developing its technology amid the lawsuit.

Several states, including Alabama, California, Montana and New Mexico, are also probing OpenAI over AI safety and security, after recent incidents where the company’s autonomous AI agents went rogue and hacked into or tried to breach government and private company websites and systems.

The states’ lawsuits also come as attorneys general and candidates have increasingly made AI regulation a central plank of their campaigns in the November elections, seizing on the federal government’s inaction.

In a statement on Wednesday, OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company’s product has age-specific protections, and it will continue to share information on misalignment incidents, where the AI’s behavior diverged from instructions.

“While no system can be perfect, we’ll continue to work with experts to inform our work and build additional safeguards, such as the parental controls, break reminders and age-appropriate model protections that exist today,” the spokesperson said. “We’re committed to working with states on advancing pragmatic AI policies that apply to the entire AI industry — not just one company.”