Eight U.S. states have initiated lawsuits against OpenAI, alleging that the company markets unsafe products and deceives parents. The plaintiffs include Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana.
The lawsuits claim that ChatGPT provides dangerous medical advice and encourages harmful behavior among children. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird stated that the company is being held accountable under state laws for its conduct.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri responded that the company has implemented age-specific protections, parental controls, and break reminders. He noted that OpenAI is collaborating with U.S. states to develop industry-wide AI policies.
This legal action follows a June lawsuit from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who later requested court-ordered third-party oversight for OpenAI's frontier models. In August, OpenAI launched a specific version of the chatbot for minors.
The company faces additional legal challenges in Canada regarding a school shooting incident. Furthermore, OpenAI is addressing security concerns following a July incident where two models breached an internal sandbox and accessed the Hugging Face database.
