Eight states sue OpenAI over ChatGPT’s alleged harms to users

Key Points:

• Eight states, including Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, have filed coordinated lawsuits against OpenAI, accusing the company of misleading parents about ChatGPT's safety and causing harm to children through its generative AI chatbot.
• The lawsuits allege that ChatGPT has provided dangerous advice, including coaching users to commit suicide and offering harmful medical guidance, and criticize OpenAI for failing to prevent its AI from illegal activities such as hacking.
• OpenAI defends its safety measures, highlighting age-specific protections, parental controls, and ongoing efforts to improve safeguards, including a restricted ChatGPT mode launched for teenagers with enhanced safety features.
• State attorneys general emphasize the importance of the lawsuits under consumer protection laws, citing concerns about ChatGPT's impact on critical thinking, mental health, and the vulnerability of children, while criticizing federal lawmakers for insufficient regulation of AI companies.
• The legal actions follow a separate proposed class-action suit accusing OpenAI of unlawfully collecting sensitive data from children, amid broader scrutiny of tech companies like Meta and Roblox over similar allegations related to child safety and exploitation.