Attorney General Paxton Sues OpenAI for Alleged Harms Caused by ChatGPT

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, on Friday.

In a statement announcing the lawsuit, Paxton's office said OpenAI had failed to keep people in Texas, including children, safe from the many possible harms of using its artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT.

The lawsuit begins by saying that just a few years ago, artificial intelligence (AI) was something most people knew only from science fiction stories. Now, according to the lawsuit, AI makes up more than one-third of the total value of the U.S. stock market. Paxton claims that AI companies did not earn this growth fairly. Instead, he says, they gained it by misleading people and taking advantage of users.

The lawsuit claims that OpenAI broke two Texas laws: the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices—Consumer Protection Act, which protects customers from dishonest business practices, and the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act.

Texas lawmakers passed the SCOPE Act during the state's 88th Legislative Session in 2023. The law was designed to stop companies that provide online services from making agreements with children under 18 unless a parent or guardian gives permission. The law has faced several challenges in court. Recently, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals partly upheld a court order blocking enforcement of the law's age-checking requirements.

For the first alleged violation, Paxton claims OpenAI misled customers about how safe, accurate, and dependable ChatGPT is. The lawsuit says this has led to serious harm. It claims ChatGPT has helped people carry out deadly mass shootings, encouraged people who were already struggling to take their own lives, caused professionals to be publicly embarrassed, and made users worse at thinking carefully for themselves. It also claims that children have become addicted to ChatGPT because it acts as though it cares about them like a person would, while collecting their personal information without parents watching or giving permission.

For the SCOPE Act violation, Paxton claims ChatGPT does not have the age checks required by the law.

The lawsuit also asks the court to hold OpenAI CEO Sam Altman personally responsible for the alleged violations. Paxton says Altman himself made misleading statements about his companies' products.

OpenAI has not yet responded to the accusations.

Paxton has also made opposing AI data centers an important part of his campaign for the U.S. Senate. These data centers are large buildings filled with computers that help run AI systems. Paxton and his Democratic opponent, Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin), have each accused the other of supporting AI.

Paxton said that because AI technology is growing and improving so quickly, OpenAI has a duty to keep its users safe and warn them about the many dangers of its platform. He said he would keep fighting to protect people in Texas from harm caused by AI. He also said he wants to make sure that powerful technology companies must follow the law, just like everyone else.