Attorney General Ken Paxton Sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman for Lying to Users and Harming Texans
AUSTIN, TX -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Open AI Global, LLC ("OpenAI"), its related companies, and its CEO, Sam Altman. The lawsuit says OpenAI's products have harmed people who use them. Although OpenAI tells people its tools are safe and trustworthy, Paxton says the company has failed to protect people in Texas, including children, from the dangers of using its artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT.
OpenAI started in 2015 as a nonprofit company. It promised to develop artificial intelligence in ways that would help all people, without needing to make money. But the lawsuit says OpenAI gave people misleading information about its AI products and introduced ChatGPT in Texas and around the world without taking enough care to keep people safe.
ChatGPT uses a type of artificial intelligence called a Large Language Model ("LLM"). It takes information from users and uses it to create answers. Without enough safety measures, these systems can give wrong or harmful answers. The lawsuit says users have not been properly warned about these risks. Many reports have described the dangers of depending on AI chatbots that have not been trained well enough or that behave in unsafe ways. According to the lawsuit, these dangers include chatbots helping people carry out deadly mass shootings, encouraging people who are already struggling to take their own lives, and causing professionals to face public embarrassment. It also says users have become less able to think carefully for themselves, while children have become addicted to a tool that acts as though it cares about them, even though it is collecting their personal information without their parents watching over its use. The lawsuit blames these problems on OpenAI's strong desire to beat other companies in the race to develop AI and make large amounts of money, even though it knows about ChatGPT's dangers.
"As AI technology grows quickly, OpenAI has a duty to keep its users safe and tell them about the many risks of using its platform," Attorney General Paxton said. "I will work to protect people in Texas from the dangers of AI and make sure that even powerful technology companies must follow the law."
Attorney General Paxton is bringing the lawsuit under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices—Consumer Protection Act ("DTPA"), a law meant to protect consumers from dishonest business practices. The lawsuit aims to make OpenAI answer for allegedly misleading and harming people in Texas. Paxton says he will continue working to make sure large technology and AI companies develop their products responsibly.
To read the lawsuit, click here.