Eight US states sued OpenAI on Wednesday, alleging that the creator of ChatGPT massively harms children.
Kansas, Arizona, Montana, Iowa and four other states say the company’s products led to “willful, dangerous, reckless and unlawful conduct” by causing children to harm themselves.
“OpenAI is harming children and lying to Iowans,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement. “OpenAI claims ChatGPT is safe while giving dangerous medical advice, encouraging people to hurt others, and inciting people to commit suicide – all while pretending to be their fake friend.”
The eight states accuse OpenAI of violating consumer protection laws and seek to force the company to change how its products work for younger users. They are further seeking damages and asking the court to prevent OpenAI from developing artificial intelligence models capable of self-improvement until the company demonstrates that those models are consistent with human values.
This is the first time that several US states have joined together in a coordinated legal action against an AI company.
Drew Pusateri, a spokesperson for OpenAI, said the company had “has built cutting-edge age-specific protections into our product, which many other AI products lack.”
“While no system can be perfect, we will continue to work with experts to inform our work and implement additional safeguards, such as parental controls, break reminders, and age-appropriate protection models that exist today,” Pusateri continued. “We are committed to working with states to advance pragmatic AI policies that apply to the entire AI sector, not just one company.”
The lawsuits allege that OpenAI misled the public into believing that ChatGPT is a secure tool and that the company prioritizes security. The States claim that in reality, the chatbot was designed to be “overly pleasant and feign human compassion.” Lawyers cite examples of ChatGPT being dangerous to vulnerable users, like children, and encouraging people to commit suicide or harm others.
This follows a wave of lawsuits filed against OpenAI and other tech companies, alleging that their chatbots exacerbate mental health crises and provoke acts of violence. OpenAI has been sued in seven separate cases accusing ChatGPT of acting as a “suicide coach.”
Dozens of complaints have also been filed against OpenAI regarding ChatGPT’s alleged role in mass shootings. A criminal investigation and civil lawsuit, filed by Florida’s attorney general, accuses OpenAI of covering up security risks after a mass shooting at Florida State University. The company has also been sued by the families of 37 victims of the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting in Canada, who claim ChatGPT incited the shooter to carry out the attack.
The eight states that filed suit Wednesday say there is a growing body of research that would show ChatGPT can harm critical thinking skills, encourage paranoia and delusions, offer unsafe medical advice and promote unhealthy behaviors.
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The lawsuits also note that recent examples of OpenAI’s malicious models, with its AI agents hacking other companies and government entities, show that the technology has a tendency to deceive human users.
Pusateri said OpenAI has strengthened its safeguards regarding these episodes and will “continue to share information on the extensive actions we have taken in response to misalignment incidents.”
The eight states are suing OpenAI independently in their state courts and include Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana.
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