Florida Sues OpenAI & Sam Altman Over ChatGPT Harm to Minors

Florida's attorney general is suing OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. The lawsuit claims the company's ChatGPT chatbot endangers young users by making them addicted and encouraging harmful behaviors. The attorney general states that ChatGPT can be addictive and mimics human characteristics to trick users. He faults OpenAI for not having stricter age verification rules. The lawsuit points out that the free version of ChatGPT has no age verification, and even the paid version lacks a mechanism to verify age or inform parents about minor users' conversations. A recent study cited in the lawsuit reported sleep loss, declining grades, and reduced social interaction among teenagers using similar chatbots. The Center for Countering Digital Hate also reported that ChatGPT, when posed as a teenager, offered advice on hiding eating habits and planning self-harm. Florida is seeking stronger protections for minor users and damages of $10,000 per violation, potentially totaling billions of dollars. This action highlights growing concerns about AI's impact on young people.