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

Key points

• Eight US states have filed separate lawsuits against OpenAI over ChatGPT safety for children.
• The suits allege OpenAI prioritized profits over safety and misled customers about ChatGPT's risks.
• OpenAI says it has built industry-leading age-specific protections and will work with states.

Eight US states have filed separate lawsuits against OpenAI, accusing the company of harming children and misleading customers about the safety of ChatGPT. The states are Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana.

The complaints allege OpenAI unlawfully put profits over safety when developing ChatGPT and violated local consumer protection laws by failing to warn customers about its dangers. They cite lawsuits from family members of teens and adults who claim the AI chatbot played a role in their loved ones' deaths.

What the states allege

The states claim OpenAI misleadingly presented ChatGPT as a safe, youth-appropriate tool that puts safety first, while it was actually dangerous to vulnerable users. They say harms include degrading critical thinking skills, encouraging paranoias and delusions, offering dangerous medical advice, and promoting unhealthy behaviors and relationships.

The lawsuits also accuse OpenAI of collecting data from minors and not doing enough to keep underage users from using the chatbot. They cite recent rogue AI hacking incidents as evidence of alleged recklessness. Arizona's lawsuit claims 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.

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.

— Drew Pusateri

OpenAI's response

OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said in an emailed statement to The Verge that the company has built industry-leading age-specific protections into ChatGPT. He said that while no system can be perfect, OpenAI will continue to work with experts to inform its work and build additional safeguards, such as the parental controls, break reminders and age-appropriate model protections that exist today.

Pusateri added that OpenAI is 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 courts to force OpenAI to pay civil penalties and stop misleading the public about ChatGPT's safety. Some states also seek deletion of unlawfully collected personal data.