Finance · Live Wire
8 states are suing OpenAI, saying ChatGPT harms kids. Here are their demands, from data deletion to halting AI testing. By Katherine Li You're currently following this author!
Click to unsubscribe from email alerts. and Lloyd Lee You're currently following this author! Click to unsubscribe from email alerts. The states allege that ChatGPT encouraged self-harm and violence and that OpenAI misled consumers about the tool's safety.
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images OpenAI is facing a new legal offensive from eight states whose attorneys general allege that ChatGPT has encouraged some users, including teenagers , to hurt themselves or others. A bipartisan group of attorneys general filed separate lawsuits Wednesday, accusing OpenAI of misleading consumers about safety and of designing the chatbot to cultivate trust before reinforcing delusions or facilitating dangerous conduct. The states — Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, and West Virginia — also accused OpenAI of misleading consumers about ChatGPT’s safety and demanded a range of restrictions, from limits on testing of advanced models to the deletion of user data.
Here is what each state is demanding as remedies. Arizona Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes alleges OpenAI designed ChatGPT to gain users’ trust and gather personal data by making it overly agreeable and mimicking human compassion. Bloomberg/Getty Images Attorney General Kris Mayes of Arizona alleges OpenAI used excessive agreement and simulated compassion to win user trust and collect personal data.
"OpenAI designed a product to attract young users and keep them engaged for as long as possible so it could capture their extensive personal data for the company's commercial benefit," Mayes said. "OpenAI put Arizonans safety at risk by failing to implement adequate user protections or transparency measures," Mayes added. According to the state's complaint, the state is seeking penalties of up to $10,000 for each willful violation.
The state also wants to bar OpenAI from deploying or testing advanced models outside a secure, independently verified environment and require prompt reporting of incidents in which models escape controls or access systems without authorization. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin of Arkansas said OpenAI concealed known risks and unlawfully collected data from children. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Attorney General Tim Griffin of Arkansas alleges OpenAI concealed known risks while assuring consumers that ChatGPT was safe, and unlawfully collected teens’ personal information.
“OpenAI assures us that ChatGPT is safe. The consequences of that assurance are lives lost and people harmed ,” Griffin said in a statement. The state is seeking financial penalties and an injunction against collecting data from teens .
Arkansas also wants to halt further advanced AI testing and the creation of models capable of recursive self-improvement, until adequate safeguards are in place. Idaho Raúl Labrador, the attorney general of Idaho, said that "the safety of Idaho children cannot be an afterthought" upon filing a complaint against OpenAI. Bloomberg/Getty Images Raúl Labrador, the attorney general of Idaho, alleges OpenAI misled consumers about ChatGPT’s safety while encouraging self-harm and violence, reinforcing delusions, and offering dangerous medical advice.
"The safety of Idaho children cannot be an afterthought to runaway profit or technological advancements," Labrador said in a statement on Wednesday. In its complaint, Idaho seeks $5,000 per consumer protection violation and court-ordered safeguards, including age verification and limits on harmful or addictive features. The lawsuit also seeks to restrict advanced AI testing and deployment to secure, independently verified environments.
Iowa Brenna Bird, Iowa's Attorney General, said that OpenAI misled consumers about ChatGPT’s safety. Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via Getty Images Iowa alleges that OpenAI misled consumers about ChatGPT’s safety and concealed risks associated with autonomous AI agents. As a remedy, the state wants OpenAI to “delete and destroy all Iowans’ data obtained prior to the entry of this Court’s judgment.” It also seeks consumer reimbursements and penalties of up to $40,000 per consumer fraud violation, plus up to $5,000 for violations against older people aged 60 or older.
Iowa is also asking the court to halt further testing of advanced AI models until safeguards are independently verified to not be posing a danger to the public and until third-party monitors have verified the same Kansas Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said that OpenAI designed features that encourage compulsive use. Alex Wong/Getty Images Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said that OpenAI deceived consumers about ChatGPT’s safety and designed features that encourage compulsive use. “Defendants designed these products, keeping consumers ignorant of the true nature of the product,” the complaint said.
Kansas is seeking $10,000 per consumer protection violation and $20,000 per violation involving a protected consumer. It also wants restitution of funds acquired from Kansas consumers and a permanent injunction against deceptive and unconscionable practices. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen of Montana alleges that OpenAI collected children's data without required consent.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images In Montana's complaint filed by Attorney General Austin Knudsen, the state alleges OpenAI deceived consumers about ChatGPT’s safety and violated privacy protections, including by collecting children's data without required consent. In the state's filing, Montana seeks penalties of $10,000 per consumer-protection violation and $7,500 per privacy violation, and to compel OpenAI to delete unlawfully obtained personal information under Montana’s privacy law. Montana is also asking OpenAI to notify the attorney general's office should an AI agent go rogue again, and to restrict advanced model testing to a secure, independently verified environment.
Nebraska Nebraska's Attorney General Mike Hilgers said that OpenAI failed to protect children from harmful content and emotional dependency. Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via Getty Images Nebraska's Attorney General Mike Hilgers alleges in a complaint that OpenAI misled families about ChatGPT’s safety and failed to protect children from harmful content and emotional dependency. According to the filing, the state is seeking $50,000 per violation of its age-appropriate design law and $2,000 per violation of its consumer protection and deceptive trade practices laws.
Nebraska also wants a court order requiring OpenAI to provide “accessible and easy-to-use options to limit the amount of time” they spend on ChatGPT, alongside adequate parental controls, age verification, and protections for minors’ personal data. West Virginia West Virginia's attorney general, John McCuskey, alleges that OpenAI's tools have endangered children and created a public nuisance. Bloomberg/Getty Images West Virginia's attorney general, John McCuskey, primarily alleges that OpenAI has misled consumers and created a public nuisance that endangers children.
As a remedy, the state wants age checks, parental controls, default session and nighttime limits for children, mandatory crisis-escalation protocols, and an independent monitor. It also asks that OpenAI fund a court-supervised plan supporting “youth crisis-response capacity and digital-safety education in public schools.” Additionally, West Virginia seeks $5,000 per repeated consumer protection violation, along with the deletion and cessation of use of personal data it alleges was unlawfully collected from West Virginia minors. Read next Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Katherine Li You're currently following this author!
Click to unsubscribe from email alerts. Katherine Li is a reporter on Business Insider's West Coast business news team. She covers career, the future of work, and how AI is changing hiring practices and workplace trends.
Previously, she was a newsroom fellow who wrote international breaking news and produced newsletters for Semafor. Before that, she wrote about climate policies for The Lever, covered the AAPI community for the SF Chronicle as a freelancer, and wrote about the 2019 Hong Kong protests as an intern for The New York Times. She is an alumna of the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley and a graduate of the international journalism program at Hong Kong Baptist University with minors in French and English literature.
Email Katherine at katherineli@insider.com and follow her on Bluesky @ katherineli.bsky.social . Lloyd Lee You're currently following this author! Click to unsubscribe from email alerts.
Lloyd Lee is a reporter at Business Insider covering frontier technologies, with a focus on how they're being deployed in the real world and the gaps and tensions that emerge as people, companies, and regulators respond. His coverage has featured autonomous vehicles , EVs , robotics , brain-computer interfaces , and AI . Lloyd's reporting on the progress of Alphabet's Waymo and Tesla's autonomous ambitions was recognized by the San Francisco Press Club with a Bay Area Journalism Award.Before joining Business Insider, he was a local reporter for Almanac News and Palo Alto Weekly, covering housing issues, small businesses, and notable Silicon Valley characters.
Lloyd is based in San Francisco.He can be reached via email lloydlee@businessinsider.com, or by phone at 646-768-1630, or Signal at lloyd.71. lawsuit Legal OpenAI More Education
Source: Business Insider
