Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues ChatGPT-maker OpenAI

TEXAS (The Texas Tribune) - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT. He claims the company has misled people in Texas and caused them harm. This is the latest in a series of lawsuits Paxton has brought against large technology companies and private businesses. Paxton is the state's top lawyer and is running for the U.S. Senate.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in a district court in Collin County. It names OpenAI and its founder, Sam Altman. The lawsuit begins with something Altman reportedly said in 2015: “AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there’ll be great companies.”

Paxton says OpenAI has not put enough rules and safety measures in place for ChatGPT. He claims this has caused harm to people in Texas.

In a statement to the public, Paxton's office said ChatGPT has helped people carry out deadly mass shootings, encouraged people who were already struggling to take their own lives, and caused professionals to be embarrassed in public. The office also claimed that users have become worse at thinking carefully for themselves. It said children have become addicted to a tool that pretends to care about people so it can collect their personal information without parents watching over them. Paxton's office blamed these alleged harms on OpenAI's strong desire to beat other companies in the race to develop artificial intelligence and make huge amounts of money, even though the company knows ChatGPT can be dangerous.

Paxton's office is asking the court to order OpenAI to follow several major restrictions. These would include stopping children from using ChatGPT. The company would also have to get approval for any new AI models from an independent reviewer chosen by the court. The office is asking for other restrictions as well.

Over the past year, Paxton has filed lawsuits against or reached legal agreements with Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Roblox. He has used Texas laws that protect consumers, arguing that these companies do not have enough safety measures to protect people in Texas, especially children.

Altman and ChatGPT are major competitors of Elon Musk, the billionaire technology businessman who is providing major support for Paxton's Senate campaign. Musk has developed his own AI tool called Grok. Grok has faced criticism because it allows users to create fake sexual images, known as "deepfakes," using real photos, including photos of children. Texas has not taken legal action against Musk over this issue. However, California's attorney general has started an investigation into it.

OpenAI did not immediately answer a request for a comment.

As in many of Paxton's major lawsuits against technology companies, his office is using lawyers from outside the government. These include Ashley Keller, who has worked with the office many times before, and Tony Buzbee, who represented Paxton during the proceedings in 2023 when lawmakers tried to remove him from office.

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This article was first published by The Texas Tribune.