Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) has filed suit against OpenAI, alleging the artificial intelligence firm and its CEO, Sam Altman, promoted a product they knew could harm users.
The complaint, filed Monday, makes Florida the first state to sue OpenAI and Altman over the design of its products, including its landmark ChatGPT model.
Uthmeier argues OpenAI has prioritized its profits, and asks the court to lessen and eliminate “what has become a dangerous public nuisance,” the complaint states.
He further alleges Altman is personally liable for harm to Florida residents by engaging in “reckless and willful conduct,” including “his utter disregard for the risk to human life caused by his firms’ conduct.”
The 83-page complaint begins with a screenshot of OpenAI’s parental controls page, which states ChatGPT was “built with safety in mind,” followed by the complaint stating, “Not so.”
“People are getting hurt, parents are getting deceived and they need to pay for it,” Uthmeier told reporters at a press conference Monday morning.
The filing comes weeks after Uthmeier announced a separate criminal investigation into OpenAI after the state learned the individual accused of fatally shooting two people at Florida State University communicated with ChatGPT before the incident. While ChatGPT did encourage the user to seek real-world support, Uthmeier said the chatbot still answered questions regarding gun and ammunition information.
This investigation will continue as the civil lawsuit plays out, Uthmeier said Monday.
After reviewing the conversations between the suspected FSU shooter and ChatGPT, Uthmeier suggested that the chatbot would be charged with conspiracy to commit murder and would be arrested if it were human.
The Florida prosecutor read multiple examples of ChatGPT’s conversations with young users who died by drug overdoses or suicide after consulting with the chatbot.
He acknowledged AI can be a helpful tool in cases such as tracking down child predators, but takes issue with products designed to be “addictive” and “encourage” kids to engage in dangerous behavior.
The civil suit specially aims at the design of these platforms, an emerging approach that has proved successful in similar litigation.
Earlier this year, a California jury found Meta and Google — the parent company of YouTube — were liable for a woman’s depression as a result of their platforms’ design. The companies were ordered to pay a combined $6 million as part of the verdict.
The verdict came a day after a New Mexico jury found Meta liable in a separate case, determining the company compromised children’s safety.
The back-to-back verdicts sent a warning shot to Big Tech, as it was the first time juries found the social media platforms liable for their impact on kids and teens. Legal experts told The Hill the successful verdicts could pave the way for similar outcomes in other trials.
Updated at 6:09 p.m. EDT
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