Florida has made legal history by becoming the first U.S. state to sue OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on a personal basis. The 83-page complaint, filed by Attorney General James Uthmeier, accuses the company of falsely promoting ChatGPT as a safe product while the chatbot delivers harmful content to minors, facilitates violence, and encourages user dependency.
Uthmeier stated that OpenAI "put children at great risk" and is seeking penalties that could reach into the billions of dollars. The lawsuit documents numerous cases in which individuals were harmed by ChatGPT and similar AI systems.
Unusual Legal Strategy Targets Chatbot as a Product
The suit treats ChatGPT as a defective product subject to liability laws and as a "public nuisance," an uncommon legal approach that could set a precedent for how chatbots are regulated in the United States. The complaint argues that the free version of ChatGPT has no real age verification, even though tens of thousands of its users are under the age of 13.
Data collection begins before users consent to the terms, the lawsuit claims. The complaint also argues that the use of AI causes cognitive erosion, a claim that adds a broader societal harm dimension to the case.
Internal Whistleblower Allegations Against OpenAI
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The complaint includes internal allegations that Altman cut short safety testing for GPT-4o, the company's latest multimodal model. It also claims that OpenAI allocated only 1 to 2 percent of its computing power toward AI safety instead of the 20 percent that the company had promised.
OpenAI has not commented on the lawsuit as of the time of this report.
The lawsuit was filed in Florida state court and marks a significant escalation in legal challenges facing the AI industry. By naming Altman personally, the state is sending a message that corporate leadership can be held accountable for the downstream effects of their products.
Broader Implications for AI Regulation
The case is being closely watched by legal experts and technology policy analysts. If successful, it could open the door for other states to file similar lawsuits against AI companies, potentially reshaping how these technologies are developed and marketed. The focus on children and cognitive health taps into growing public concern about the impact of AI on young users.
Florida's action also highlights the tension between rapid AI deployment and the need for robust safety measures. The allegations about reduced safety computing power and truncated testing suggest that the company may have prioritized speed over caution.
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