Eight states sue OpenAI, saying ChatGPT isn’t safe for kids

OpenAI is facing a new wave of lawsuits from eight US states that accuse the company of harming children and misleading customers about the safety of ChatGPT, as reported earlier by Reuters. The lawsuits, filed separately by Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana, allege OpenAI unlawfully put profits over safety when developing ChatGPT.

The string of complaints claims that OpenAI violated local consumer protection laws by failing to warn customers about the dangers of ChatGPT, citing several lawsuits filed by the family members of teens and adults that allege the AI chatbot played a role in their loved ones’ deaths. They allege that while OpenAI misleadingly presented ChatGPT as a “safe, youth-appropriate tool that puts safety first,” it was actually “dangerous to vulnerable users” — including by “degrading critical thinking skills, encouraging paranoias and delusions, offering dangerous medical advice, and promoting unhealthy behaviors and relationships.”

Additionally, the states accuse OpenAI of collecting data from minors and not doing enough to keep underage users from using the chatbot. The lawsuits also cite recent rogue AI hacking incidents as evidence of OpenAI’s alleged “recklessness.”

“OpenAI has devolved from its original mission as a public-first nonprofit that prioritized safety into a cautionary tale about what can happen when the development of a tool as powerful as AI is driven not by safety, but by a profit‑at‑all‑costs mindset that sidelines essential safeguards,” Arizona’s lawsuit claims.

In an emailed statement to The Verge, OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri says the company has “built industry-leading age-specific protections” into ChatGPT:

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. We’re committed to working with states on advancing pragmatic AI policies that apply to the entire AI industry – not just one company.

The states are asking the courts to force OpenAI to pay a series of civil penalties and to stop misleading the public about the safety of ChatGPT. Some states are also seeking the deletion of unlawfully collected personal data.

Update, October 14th: Added a statement from OpenAI.