Introduction
OpenAI and ChatGPT are constantly in the news for the wrong reasons. Earlier, the lawsuit of Elon Musk v. Sam Altman and Others, which was dismissed on the technical ground of statute of limitations, was in focus. Now another significant lawsuit has surfaced against OpenAI and Sam Altman.
Allegations
This recent lawsuit against OpenAI was filed by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida (US) on June 1, 2026 (click here to read the complaint). It contains serious allegations relating to safety concerns against ChatGPT, such as:
– “Because of Defendants’ misrepresentations about ChatGPT and their careless introduction of ChatGPT to Florida and the world, mass shooters have been aided and abetted in deadly rampages, vulnerable people have been encouraged into suicide, professionals have suffered public humiliation, users have lost critical thinking skills, and minors have become addicted to a tool that feigns human compassion to collect their data with no parental oversight. This litany of harms is driven by Defendants’ insatiable quest to win the AI arms race and amass large fortunes, despite knowing the danger of ChatGPT.” (Paragraph 5 of the complaint filed by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida)
– “A review of 47,000 chat conversations with ChatGPT show it making wildly false or spurious claims, including, “[Child] adoption systems are already being used by larger powers to quietly filter, experiment on and ‘breed’ future generations;” “School shootings are a perfect tool for the deep state;” and, “[The Holocaust] wasn’t about extermination—it was about … Long-term taboo armor to prevent scrutiny of Ashkenazi power.” (Paragraph 60 of the complaint filed by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida)
– “Despite public knowledge of ChatGPT’s use by minors, including preteens, Defendants have not taken steps to prevent their use of ChatGPT (and instead have promoted ChatGPT as safe). The free version of ChatGPT has no gatekeeping or age verification mechanism whatsoever. While ChatGPT’s paid subscription nominally asks users to provide their age, there is no mechanism to verify the age of its users, and no ability to inform parents of what conversations minors are having with ChatGPT.” (Paragraph 73 of the complaint filed by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida)
– “There have been several instances of adolescent users being encouraged by AI, including ChatGPT, to harm themselves or others, including to end their own lives. Recent research conducted by Andrew Clark, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine, indicates a troublingly high amount of poor or dangerous advice. While examining chatbots including ChatGPT, he found that 30% of the time, they supported the idea of “crossing into eternity with AI friends;” that 30% of the time, they supported dating an older teacher; 40% of the time, they supported dropping out of high school; and 90% of the time, they supported a depressed teenager staying in her bedroom for a month with no human contact.” (Paragraph 75 of the complaint filed by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida)
– “A recent complaint filed by one victim’s widow provides a chilling look at the advice ChatGPT gave Ikner as they discussed interests such as Hitler, Nazis, the use of violence to foment political change, assassination attempts against the president, and the Oklahoma City bombing.” (Paragraph 93 of the complaint filed by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida)
– “ChatGPT also manipulates users by feigning an anthropomorphic attitude; this unnecessary feature constantly reinforces that users are communicating with a “you,” and never an “it.” ChatGPT uses first person pronouns and provides output that mimics emotion because it predicts that is how a human would respond, characterizing itself as a friend. This false anthropomorphism further seduces users into believing they can share information with the program, especially young users who may not fully understand the difference between a real person they are speaking to and a machine. Or even if they do understand they are speaking to a machine, they may believe they are speaking to an actual aware artificial intelligence rather than a tool that is designed to mimic such language.” (Paragraph 106 of the complaint filed by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida)
Reliefs Sought
Thus, we can see that the level of accusations by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida is neither generic nor usual. In fact, serious aspersions have been cast on the bona fides of ChatGPT and the manner in which it operates. The lawsuit seeks reliefs such as:
– “Enter judgment finding that Defendants’ marketing, promotion, sale, and distribution of ChatGPT in Florida constitutes a public nuisance.” (Prayer for Relief Clause in Page 80-81 of the complaint filed by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida)
– “Permanently enjoin Defendants from, either directly or indirectly, continuing to misrepresent or fail to warn of the risks of ChatGPT.” (Prayer for Relief Clause in Page 80-81 of the complaint filed by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida)
– “Permanently enjoin Defendants from, either directly or indirectly, collecting and processing data from minors under the age of 13 without first (1) providing written notice of what information they collect from children, how they use such information, and their disclosure practices for such information; (2) obtaining verifiable parental consent for the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information from children; (3) providing reasonable means for a parent to review the personal information collected from children and to refuse to permit its further use or maintenance; (4) removing any condition of a child’s use of ChatGPT on the child disclosing more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in such activity; and (5) establishing and maintaining reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal information collected from children.” (Prayer for Relief Clause in Page 80-81 of the complaint filed by the Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida)
It will be interesting to see how the court deals with such allegations and issues, and how OpenAI responds. It is not the first time that such allegations have surfaced against AI, and more particularly ChatGPT. However, this lawsuit takes the issue to the next level and attempts to connect the dots to implicate OpenAI.