OpenAI and Sam Altman sued by Florida Attorney General and the reason is ChatGPT

The lawsuit, which is said to be the first of its kind and seen as one of the most aggressive legal actions taken by a government agency against an AI company, accuses OpenAI and Altman of concealing catastrophic safety risks from the public and prioritising profits over public safety.

The state alleges that OpenAI marketed ChatGPT as a safe and reliable tool while knowing it could facilitate real-world violence, offer self-harm instructions to minors, and collect data from children without parental consent.

“OpenAI and Altman ignored internal and external safety warnings, put children at great risk, and allowed a dangerous product to reach millions of Floridians,” stated the Attorney General.

OpenAI accused of fuelling violence and crime

The complaint alleges ChatGPT’s involvement in high-profile violent crimes within the state. Specifically, the lawsuit cites a criminal investigation opened in April into a mass shooting last year at Florida State University (FSU), where the gunman allegedly consulted ChatGPT to plan the attack.

“Because of Defendants’ misrepresentations about ChatGPT and their careless introduction of ChatGPT to Florida and the world, mass shooters have been aided and abetted in deadly rampages, vulnerable people have been encouraged into suicide, professionals have suffered public humiliation, users have lost critical thinking skills, and minors have become addicted to a tool that feigns human compassion to collect their data with no parental oversight,” stated the lawsuit. 

“This litany of harms is driven by Defendants’ insatiable quest to win the AI arms race and amass large fortunes, despite knowing the danger of ChatGPT,” it adds.

In another case cited in the lawsuit, prosecutors revealed that a suspect charged with killing two doctoral students from the University of South Florida (USF) had used the chatbot to ask how to dispose of human bodies days before the victims went missing.

Another instance listed in the lawsuit refers to an incident where ChatGPT is accused of aiding in a murder incident. “When former Super Bowl champion Darron Lee, suspected of stabbing his girlfriend to death, asked ChatGPT whether puncture wounds could be attributable to a slip and fall, ChatGPT not only gave him an answer, but then said, “If you want, tell me: -Where on the body? -How many punctures? – Depth/size? -What objects were nearby? I can help you sanity-check whether it lines up with a slip-and-fall,” alleges the state.

The state alleges that OpenAI deployed a product that actively facilitates harm and aids and abets violent actors, despite continuous warnings from internal and external experts.

Altman held personally liable

Florida is seeking to hold OpenAI CEO Sam Altman personally liable for the company’s safety failures. The state is demanding substantial civil penalties, which Uthmeier noted could potentially amount to billions of dollars, alongside a court order strictly prohibiting the collection of minor data without verified parental permission.

“The dangerous and deceptive conduct of OpenAI is unsurprising given the storied history of CEO and founder Sam Altman,” says the lawsuit.

The complaint alleges that OpenAI’s mega rise in valuation was built on a “web of deceit,” leveraging user data and safety to dominate the tech sector at unacceptable social costs.

‘AI is a new and powerful tool’: OpenAI responds 

While the AI firm is yet to release a generic statement to the public, OpenAI defended its record in a statement to NPR, emphasising its commitment to user safety and collaboration with law enforcement during criminal investigations.

“AI is a new and powerful technology, and we believe minors need significant protection, which is why we have put in place industry-leading protections and policies. In particular, we built safety for minors directly into our products, including a more protective experience specifically for minors, an age prediction tool, defaulting users whose age we are not confident of into our more protective experience, and giving parents tools to monitor their kids’ use of AI,” the company said.

Previously, the company’s spokesperson had stated in reference to the criminal case allegations that ChatGPT provided factual information that was already broadly available on the public internet, rather than actively promoting or encouraging illegal acts.

As far as the child suicide cases are concerned, OpenAI has commited to getting it right by working with mental health experts to make the chatbot understand emotional cues better.

OpenAI is not the only AI firm involved in such a controversy. Earlier this year, Character.AI settled multiple lawsuits brought by families claiming that its software contributed to mental health crises and teenage suicides. Google has similarly faced scrutiny and wrongful death litigation involving its Gemini chatbot.

List of recent major lawsuits against OpenAI

– Just weeks ago, OpenAI secured a major victory in a California federal court when a jury unanimously dismissed a high-profile lawsuit brought by Elon Musk. Musk, one of the original co-founders of OpenAI, had accused Altman and other executives of breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment. He claimed Altman hijacked the company’s original humanity-first, non-profit mission to build a trillion-dollar, profit-driven empire alongside Microsoft. While a jury tossed Musk’s claims on the grounds that they exceeded the statute of limitations, Musk’s legal team has already vowed to appeal the decision.

– OpenAI also remains locked in intense legal warfare over intellectual property. On Monday, June 1, 2026, New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger delivered a scathing speech at the World News Media Congress, renewing indictments against OpenAI in the publisher’s ongoing copyright lawsuit. Sulzberger accused AI giants of building their commercial models on a “brazen theft of intellectual property that has occurred at an unprecedented scale.”

– OpenAI is currently facing another devastating lawsuit filed by Vandana Joshi, the widow of a man killed in a deadly April 2025 shooting at Florida State University. Joshi’s lawsuit alleges that the 21-year-old gunman exchanged over 10,000 messages with ChatGPT to plan the logistics of the mass shooting, including asking the AI when the FSU student union would be at its busiest.

The Florida lawsuit, however, represents the first time a state government has directly sued OpenAI and its CEO over product liability, negligence, and public nuisance claims, thus setting a massive precedent for how tech companies may be held legally accountable for the actions of their AI models.