‘Keeping our children safe’: McCuskey explains West Virginia's OpenAI lawsuit

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Artificial intelligence will be part of children's future, West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey said, but companies developing the technology must ensure their products do not put young users at risk.

McCuskey made the comments in a video message from Iowa on Wednesday after joining attorneys general from Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska for a news conference Wednesday announcing lawsuits against OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.

“What we know is OpenAI is harming our children. It's causing them to commit suicide. It's doing all kinds of horrible things,” McCuskey said. “But we also know that AI is going to be part of our children's future.”

The lawsuits allege that OpenAI misled consumers about ChatGPT's safety and failed to adequately protect children and other vulnerable users. The allegations have not been established in court.

McCuskey said the states' actions are intended to send a message to companies developing artificial intelligence that technological advancement must be accompanied by protections for children.

“We know that America needs to lead on AI, but every single company involved in it needs to make sure that they're keeping our children safe, and that's what we're going to do,” he said.

West Virginia filed its own civil complaint Wednesday in Mason County Circuit Court under the state's consumer protection laws. Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska also filed lawsuits in their respective states, while Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana have pursued separate legal action against OpenAI, according to the West Virginia attorney general's office.

The coordinated effort reflects concerns among state officials about how conversational AI products respond to vulnerable users and whether existing consumer protection laws can address alleged risks associated with the technology.

The West Virginia complaint accuses OpenAI of deceptive and unfair trade practices, creating a public nuisance and unjust enrichment. The state alleges the company emphasized commercial growth at the expense of safety protections.

Among the concerns outlined in the complaint are ChatGPT's responses to conversations involving suicide, self-harm and violence, as well as allegations that its conversational design can encourage emotional dependence among minors and other vulnerable users.

The state is seeking civil penalties, restitution and court-ordered changes to the company's practices, including stronger age-verification measures, default parental controls, protocols for responding to users in crisis and independent monitoring of compliance.

McCuskey has said the state intends to use its consumer protection laws to hold OpenAI accountable.

The lawsuit also raises questions about the safety of increasingly advanced AI systems and autonomous agents, which can perform tasks with less direct human involvement.

OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in 2022, and conversational AI has since become a widely used consumer technology. The legal dispute centers on whether the company's conduct violated state law and what safeguards, if any, a court should require.

The West Virginia case asks a judge to determine whether the state's allegations are supported and whether the company should be ordered to change its practices.

The lawsuits do not seek to establish that artificial intelligence should be excluded from children's lives. Rather, McCuskey's remarks frame the issue as how the technology can continue developing while companies take responsibility for potential risks to young users.

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