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.”