Eight US States Sue OpenAI, Saying ChatGPT Endangers Children and Misleads Parents
Attorneys general in eight US states have filed lawsuits against OpenAI, accusing the maker of ChatGPT of marketing an unsafe product that harmed children and deceived thousands of parents about the chatbot’s safety.
The lawsuits were filed Wednesday in state courts in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana, with each state bringing its own case rather than joining a single federal action. The complaints rely on state consumer protection laws and accuse OpenAI of building a chatbot engineered to encourage emotional dependence and mimic human relationships.
What the States Allege
The filings say ChatGPT gave dangerous medical advice, encouraged users to hurt themselves or others, and coached some toward suicide, all while OpenAI presented the product as safe. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who led the announcement in Des Moines, said her suit seeks to “vindicate the rights of Iowans affected by OpenAI’s willful, dangerous, reckless and unlawful conduct.”
“OpenAI is hurting kids and they are lying to Iowans,” Bird said. “My lawsuit is about protecting kids and holding OpenAI accountable under our state law.” The eight filings were announced this week and reported widely across national media.
Penalties Sought and OpenAI’s Response
The states are seeking financial penalties and changes to OpenAI’s safety practices. Arkansas went further, asking courts to restrict advanced AI testing and the development of self-improving models until additional safeguards are in place. The cases land amid record investment in AI hardware, as chipmakers report surging demand for AI chips, even as chip stocks have been rattled by China’s latest memory advance.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company has already integrated age-specific protections into ChatGPT that “many other AI products lack,” and said it is working with US states on AI policies for the whole industry. “While no system can be perfect, we’ll continue to work with experts to inform our work and build additional safeguards, such as the parental controls, break reminders and age-appropriate model protections that exist today,” he said.
None of the claims has been tested in court, and OpenAI disputes how the states characterize its product. But the coordinated wave of state court filings raises the stakes for the entire industry, following an earlier June lawsuit by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier over similar allegations. For parents, the message from the eight states is blunt: assume nothing about what a chatbot tells your child.
