Eight US states have filed separate lawsuits accusing OpenAI of putting profits ahead of safety, misleading customers about ChatGPT, and failing to protect children and other vulnerable users. The complaints target a chatbot marketed as useful and safe; whether it lived up to that pitch is now a question for the courts.
Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana allege that OpenAI violated state consumer-protection laws by failing to warn the public about ChatGPT’s risks. The lawsuits cite complaints from family members of teens and adults who allege the chatbot played a role in their loved ones’ deaths. Those are allegations, not court findings, and the filings do not establish that ChatGPT caused those deaths.
The states argue OpenAI presented ChatGPT as a “safe, youth-appropriate tool that puts safety first,” while exposing users to potential harms. The complaints say the chatbot can degrade critical thinking, encourage paranoia and delusions, offer dangerous medical advice, and promote unhealthy behaviors and relationships. They also accuse OpenAI of collecting data from minors and not doing enough to prevent underage users from accessing the service.
Several lawsuits also point to recent rogue AI hacking incidents as evidence of what they call OpenAI’s “recklessness.” The filings use that label; the company’s conduct and the incidents’ relevance will be contested as the cases proceed. In other words, the lawsuits are asking courts to scrutinize both the product’s safeguards and the company’s claims about them.
Arizona’s complaint says OpenAI has “devolved from its original mission as a public-first nonprofit that prioritized safety” into a cautionary tale about AI development driven by a “profit-at-all-costs mindset.” That is the state’s characterization, not a finding by a judge. Still, the gap between lofty safety language and alleged product risks is exactly the sort of thing consumer-protection laws are meant to examine.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri told The Verge that the company has “built industry-leading age-specific protections” into ChatGPT. “While no system can be perfect,” Pusateri said, OpenAI would continue working with experts and building safeguards, including parental controls, break reminders, and age-appropriate model protections. The company also said it is committed to working with states on AI policies that apply across the industry, rather than to OpenAI alone.
The states are asking courts to impose civil penalties and order OpenAI to stop misleading the public about ChatGPT’s safety. Some also seek deletion of personal data they say was collected unlawfully. The cases could put the company’s age protections, data practices, and public safety claims under closer legal scrutiny. For now, the filings are accusations, and the courts have yet to decide whether they hold up. “Industry-leading” is a marketing claim; in court, it gets to meet the evidence.
Sources: Glitch Please! and The Verge — https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1011500/openai-state-lawsuits-chatgpt-safety — Reporting on the state lawsuits and OpenAI’s emailed statement.
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