Florida sues OpenAI company, Sam Altman, in first-ever lawsuit over violent incidents

OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, were sued by Florida’s attorney general on Monday, in the first statewide lawsuit of its kind over ChatGPT’s alleged links to a number of violent incidents.

The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of looking the other way on safety concerns as it sought to prioritize winning “the AI ​​arms race and amassing great fortunes.”

“Today we announced the first state lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman,” Florida Attorney General James Othmeier said. “OpenAI and Altman ignored internal and external safety warnings, put children at significant risk, and allowed a dangerous product to reach millions of Floridians.”

“Because of Defendants’ misrepresentations about ChatGPT and their negligent introduction of ChatGPT to Florida and the world, mass shooters were aided and abetted in committing deadly rampages, vulnerable people were encouraged to commit suicide, professionals suffered public humiliation, users lost critical thinking skills, and minors became addicted to a tool pretending to be human to collect their data without parental supervision.” 83-page lawsuit Claims.

Florida Attorney General’s Office opened Criminal investigation At the company in April. This investigation sought to determine the role ChatGPT may have played in last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University. Before the attack, the shooter allegedly consulted a chatbot. It was OpenAI too File a civil lawsuit By the family of one of the shooting victims.

OpenAI has previously denied responsibility for the Florida shooting. “Last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University was a tragedy, but ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime,” an OpenAI spokesperson said. he previously told NBC News. TechCrunch has reached out to OpenAI for comment.

OpenAI only He ended a different legal case It concerns former co-founder Elon Musk, who filed a lawsuit against the company in 2024, accusing it of betraying its original mission to help humanity by turning the organization into a for-profit corporation. The case ended after the jury quickly decided that Musk had waited too long to file the case and that… The statute of limitations has passed.

This is just the latest legal case that has attempted to link ChatGPT to violent deaths. Last year, OpenAI He was sued By the parents of Adam Ren, a California teenager who committed suicide after discussing suicide with a chatbot. In this case, ChatGPT allegedly offered “technical specifications” for various suicide methods, despite also being referred to mental health resources. Other lawsuits – including lawsuits alleging the existence of a chatbot Guilt in suicide cases, Stalkingand killing – Ongoing.