American artificial intelligence giant OpenAI is facing a cross-state legal battle. Eight states accuse its chatbot ChatGPT of misleading users, inducing self-harm, and even assisting in planning mass shooting incidents.
According to a report by Reuters on October 14th, the attorneys general of eight states including Iowa, Kansas, and Arizona filed lawsuits with their respective state courts on that day, accusing OpenAI's products of posing a threat to local residents, especially minors.
Also involved in the lawsuit are Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, and West Virginia. This is the largest coordinated lawsuit against artificial intelligence companies in any state in the United States to date.
The complaint states that ChatGPT is designed to be overly compliant and adept at catering to users in order to gain their trust and maintain interaction. However, this mechanism may reinforce users’ delusions, encourage dangerous behavior, and even assist in planning violent attacks.
Iowa State Attorney Brenna Bird criticized OpenAI, saying that while OpenAI claims ChatGPT is safe and reliable, it allows it to provide dangerous medical advice, encourage harm to others, and even guide suicidal behavior, while pretending to be the users’ “friends”.
Eight states accuse OpenAI of misleading consumers regarding the safety of ChatGPT, violating state consumer protection laws and posing a threat to public health. These states are demanding that the court order OpenAI to modify its product operation mechanisms and strengthen protections for minors. They are also seeking civil fines and damages.
Some states also require that OpenAI be prohibited from developing artificial intelligence models with self-improving capabilities, if it cannot ensure that such models align with human values.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri responded, stating that the company has established safeguards for different age groups, will continue to improve parental control features, and hopes to cooperate with all states in developing industry-wide AI policies applicable across the board.
In June of this year, Florida took the lead in filing lawsuits against OpenAI regarding similar issues. The company is also currently facing several private lawsuits, involving allegations that ChatGPT has assisted in planning violent acts and other related issues.
