Arkansas AG Tim Griffin sues OpenAI for 'misleading users' over ChatGPT safety

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Attorney General Tim Griffin has filed a lawsuit against tech giant OpenAI for allegedly misleading users regarding the safety of ChatGPT.

The lawsuit states that consumers, including minors, have used ChatGPT to generate instructions for self-harm and suicide. It also alleges times when users were able to bypass OpenAI’s safety measures, raising questions about its protections.

The lawsuit also includes three causes of action: 

• Violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (ADTPA), including: 
  • Knowingly making false representations to consumers; unconscionable, false, or deceptive practices
  • Deception and fraud in interactions with consumers
  • Omissions of material facts with the intent for consumers to rely upon them
• Children’s and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (CTOPPA) violations, including: 
  • Knowingly collecting personal information from children and teens
  • Knowingly retaining the personal information of a child or teen for longer than is reasonably necessary
  • Failing to provide notice and gain consent for the collection of data and information
• Common Law claims, including:
  • Negligence
  • Strict liability – design defect; strict liability
  • Failure to warn
  • Unjust enrichment
  • Public nuisance

Arkansas’s lawsuit against OpenAI seeks a declaration that the company violated the ADTPA and CTOPPA. It would also require an injunction from further violations, including collecting data from minors and further advanced AI testing and creating models capable of recursive self-improvement until proper safeguards are in place.

It would also require OpenAI to provide clear disclosures of the risks of using ChatGPT and restitution to all consumers who have been affected, plus civil penalties.

Attorney General Griffin issued the following statement regarding the lawsuit:

“We’re in the midst of a technological revolution. Whether you call it artificial intelligence or super intelligence, the bottom line is that things are rapidly changing. But one thing that has not changed and will not change is Arkansans’ right to receive truthful information about the products and services they use.

“That’s why earlier today I filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the company that owns the platform ChatGPT. Our complaint outlines numerous violations of Arkansas law, but they all boil down to a simple fact: OpenAI represented to Arkansans that ChatGPT was safe, but they knew ChatGPT had significant risks and limitations. They chose to hide that knowledge from consumers.

“Our complaint alleges that consumers, including minors, have used ChatGPT to acquire instructions for self-harm, including suicide. It also describes instances where users were able to bypass OpenAI’s safety measures and generate responses the company said its safeguards were designed to prevent. Those examples raise serious questions about whether consumers were given an accurate picture of the product’s safety protections.

“OpenAI assures us that ChatGPT is safe. The consequences of that assurance are lives lost and people harmed.”

To read a copy of the lawsuit, click here.