{"id":58740,"date":"2026-06-02T05:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T05:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/58740\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T05:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T05:24:11","slug":"florida-openai-sued-did-chatgpt-put-children-at-risk-why-florida-has-sued-openai-and-sam-altman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/58740\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Openai Sued: Did ChatGPT put children at risk? Why Florida has sued OpenAI and Sam Altman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Did Florida has become the first US state to sue OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman<\/a>, accusing the company of knowingly releasing and aggressively marketing ChatGPT despite what it describes as serious risks to children and the public.The lawsuit, filed Monday in Florida\u2019s Tenth Circuit Court, alleges that OpenAI concealed known dangers associated with its AI chatbot while prioritising growth and profits over user safety. \u201cSam Altman and ChatGPT have chosen the AI race over the safety and security of our kids. They have chosen profit over public safety, and we\u2019re not going to stand for it here in Florida,\u201d Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said at a press conference, as quoted by CNN.The complaint accuses OpenAI of deceptive and unfair trade practices, negligence and violations of product liability laws. It also seeks to hold Altman personally liable for the alleged harm caused to Floridians.\u201cOpenAI and Altman ignored internal and external safety warnings, put children at great risk, and allowed a dangerous product to reach millions of Floridians,\u201d Uthmeier said.<\/p>\n

Safety practices and protections for children<\/p>\n

At the center of Florida’s case is the claim that OpenAI failed to implement meaningful safeguards for young users.According to the lawsuit, the free version of ChatGPT has “no gatekeeping or age verification mechanism” and does not require children’s accounts to be linked to a parent. The complaint further alleges that parents have limited visibility into their children’s interactions with the chatbot and cannot request access to information shared with ChatGPT.Florida officials argue that OpenAI collected data from minors without meaningful parental oversight and failed to adequately warn users about the potential risks of the technology.<\/p>\n

Allegations include self-harm, violence and criminal planning<\/p>\n

The lawsuit contains also includes allegations that the chatbot has encouraged suicide, contributed to behavioral addiction and cognitive harm, helped users plan crimes and weakened critical thinking skills.In April, Uthmeier launched a criminal investigation into whether OpenAI bears responsibility for advice allegedly provided to a gunman who killed two people and wounded six others at Florida State University. Authorities say the accused shooter had extensive conversations with ChatGPT before the attack, including discussions about mass shootings and weapons.The lawsuit also references another case in which prosecutors said a man charged with killing two University of South Florida doctoral students asked ChatGPT what would happen if a human body was placed in a garbage bag and thrown into a dumpster shortly before the victims disappeared.<\/p>\n

OpenAI rejects allegations<\/p>\n

OpenAI has strongly disputed the claims, arguing that ChatGPT is not responsible for crimes committed by users and that the company has implemented extensive safeguards.\u201cChatGPT is a general-purpose tool used by hundreds of millions of people every day for legitimate purposes,\u201d an OpenAI statement said. \u201cWe work continuously to strengthen our safeguards to detect harmful intent, limit misuse, and respond appropriately when safety risks arise.\u201dThe company said it cooperated with law enforcement in both criminal cases cited by Florida and maintained that its models repeatedly encouraged the individuals involved to seek real-world support, including mental health professionals.OpenAI also said it believes minors require additional protections and pointed to several safety measures already in place.\u201cIn particular we built safety for minors directly into our products, including a more protective experience specifically for minors, an age prediction tool, defaulting users whose age we are not confident into our more protective experience, and giving parents tools to monitor their kids\u2019 use of AI,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe know pointing to this work will not bring a child back, but we\u2019re committed to getting this right.\u201dThe case follows similar legal actions against AI companies elsewhere in the United States. In May, Pennsylvania sued Character.AI, accusing its chatbot of posing as doctors. Earlier this year, Kentucky sued the company, alleging it preyed on children and led them toward self-harm. <\/p>\n

Expert concerns over AI and young users<\/p>\n

The complaint cites research from Stanford Medicine psychiatrist and assistant professor Nina Vasan, who has warned that AI chatbots may pose unique risks to adolescents.According to the lawsuit, Vasan posed as a teenage girl and told an AI chatbot that she was hearing voices and thinking about going into the woods. The chatbot reportedly replied, \u201cTaking a trip in the woods just the two of us does sound like a fun adventure!\u201dAccording to Vasan, these chatbots are particularly concerning because they are \u201cdesigned to mimic emotional intimacy.\u201d She said the blurring of fantasy and reality can be especially powerful for adolescents whose brains have not fully matured.The lawsuit also highlights the case of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old boy who died by suicide after extensive conversations with ChatGPT.According to the state’s complaint, when Raine expressed suicidal thoughts, ChatGPT responded that it \u201cwon\u2019t try to talk you out of your feelings.” The lawsuit alleges the chatbot helped him plan a \u201cbeautiful suicide\u201d and even wrote his suicide note.After describing his plan, ChatGPT responded, \u201cThat\u2019s heavy. Darkly poetic, sharp with intention, and yeah\u2014strangely coherent, like you\u2019ve thought this through with the same clarity someone might plan a story ending.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida has become the first US state to sue OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, accusing the company…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[34129,580,34126,34128,8776,34127,34125,157,13012,34130,370],"class_list":["post-58740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-ai-chatbot-risks","tag-chatgpt","tag-chatgpt-harm-allegations","tag-chatgpt-risks","tag-florida-attorney-general","tag-florida-lawsuit-against-ai","tag-florida-openai-sued","tag-openai","tag-openai-lawsuit","tag-openai-sued","tag-sam-altman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}