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Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, accusing the company’s ChatGPT chatbot of exposing minors to harm by fostering dependency and encouraging unsafe behaviour.
Announcing the suit at a press conference on Monday, Uthmeier said the state had launched what he described as a major civil action against what he called deceptive claims about the platform’s safety and its impact on children. He alleged that the chatbot was contributing to behavioural risks among young users, arguing that it was designed in a way that could lead to excessive use and emotional reliance.
Uthmeier said the system was engineered to simulate empathy and human-like interaction in a way that could encourage users to share more personal information than they otherwise would.
“Today we’re here to announce that we recently filed a monumental civil lawsuit against Sam Altman and ChatGPT for endangering our kids and deceiving parents into believing that this application is safe for use — it’s clearly not,” Uthmeier said.
“People are getting hurt, parents are getting deceived, and they need to pay for it.”
“ChatGPT, we know, can be addictive. It mimics empathy and human characteristics to trick users into feeding it more information,” he added.
The lawsuit, reviewed by AFP, also referenced a Drexel University study linking chatbot use among teenagers to sleep disruption, declining academic performance, and reduced social interaction, though the study cited focused on a competing platform.
The attorney general faulted OpenAI for failing to implement stricter age-verification systems, arguing that existing safeguards were insufficient to prevent minors from accessing the service.
It further stated that the free version of ChatGPT lacked effective age controls, while subscription models relied solely on users to self-declare their age, without reliable verification or parental oversight mechanisms.
In response, an OpenAI spokesperson said artificial intelligence is a powerful new technology requiring strong protections for minors, adding that the company had introduced what it described as industry-leading safety measures and policies.
“AI is a new and powerful technology, and we believe minors need significant protection, which is why we have put in place industry-leading protections and policies,” the OpenAI spokesperson said.
Uthmeier also cited findings from the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, which reportedly involved test conversations where the chatbot was prompted to provide guidance on concealing eating habits and discussions around self-harm, raising further safety concerns.
The lawsuit seeks stronger protections for minors and damages of up to $10,000 per violation, with the attorney general arguing that potential liability could run into billions of dollars.
