Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging the AI giant’s tools stoke violence and self-harm by putting profit over safety.
The civil suit filed Monday claims OpenAI’s tools, which include the hit ChatGPT chatbot, cause “great danger of addiction, cognitive decline, suicide, violence, and related harms” to users.
The lawsuit states OpenAI pushed out a product it knew could harm users, citing the alleged use of ChatGPT in the planning of a mass shooting at Florida State University last year and the killing of two graduate students at the University of South Florida in April.
“The rise of OpenAI is attributable to a web of deceit and the exploitation of users (including Floridians), leveraging their data and safety to boost OpenAI’s market value at unacceptable costs,” the suit argues.
The case comes after Uthmeier opened a criminal investigation into OpenAI in late April. That remains ongoing.
The Florida suit is the latest in a tide of legal complaints against the San Francisco startup. Both authorities and private citizens have sought to sound the alarm on what they describe as harmful effects of OpenAI’s products.
The new suit “seeks to hold Altman personally liable for the harm he has caused Floridians through his reckless and willful conduct as founder and CEO of OpenAI, including his utter disregard for the risk to human life caused by his firms’ conduct,” Uthmeier said.
Asked for comment on the suit, an OpenAI spokesperson told The Post: “Losing a child is the most devastating tragedy that can happen to a family and we know that no words can come close to addressing the pain of such a loss.”
The spokesperson went on to note OpenAI’s “industry-leading protections and policies” like “an age prediction tool” and “giving parents tools to monitor their kids’ use of AI.”
“We know pointing to this work will not bring a child back, but we’re committed to getting this right,” the OpenAI rep concluded.
Along with violent crimes, the Florida complaint highlights instances in which ChatGPT allegedly gave users dangerous medical advice — such as when it allegedly told California teenager Sam Nelson how to mix kratom with Xanax. Nelson’s family filed a wrongful death suit in May after the youth died last year.
The suit also slams what it describes as ChatGPT’s tendency to agree with users and urge on delusional thoughts, saying users can develop dangerous psychological attachment to the tech.
The company was also sued by the family of a victim of last year’s FSU shooting, in which two people were killed and seven others wounded.
“Last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University was a tragedy, but ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime,” an OpenAI spokesman previously told media outlets.
Uthmeier’s suit accuses OpenAI of two counts of negligence, two counts of violating product liability laws, four counts of deceptive and unfair trade practices and one count each of fraudulent misrepresentation and causing a public nuisance.
Florida is the first state to sue OpenAI and Altman over design and safety.
Families of victims of a mass shooting in British Columbia, Canada, previously sued the company, too. The plaintiffs accused OpenAI of not reporting the suspect’s concerning gun talk with ChatGPT to law enforcement – even after alarms were reportedly raised within the company.
OpenAI raised a massive $122 billion funding round in March which valued the company at $852 billion.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has positioned himself as a staunch AI critic.
In December, he released a proposal for an AI Bill of Rights for Florida residents, and he has sparred with the White House over states’ ability to regulate AI.
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