Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI Global LLC, its affiliated entities and CEO Sam Altman, alleging the company misrepresented its products and failed to protect Texans, including children, from harms tied to its ChatGPT chatbot.
According to an Oct. 23 news release from the Office of the Attorney General, the suit is brought under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices—Consumer Protection Act and seeks to hold OpenAI accountable for what the office described as deception and harms imposed on Texans. The office said OpenAI markets itself as a safe and reliable tool despite the problems it alleges.
The release said OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit corporation that promised to advance digital intelligence for the benefit of humanity, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return. The attorney general’s office alleged that the company has since misrepresented its artificial intelligence products and made a careless introduction of ChatGPT to Texas and the world.
ChatGPT is a large language model that produces information based on what users submit, the release explained. The office argued that without adequate safeguards, such models can output inaccurate or harmful information without disclosing that risk to users. Citing what it called numerous reports of the dangers of relying on AI chatbots, the office alleged that mass shooters have been aided in deadly rampages, vulnerable people have been encouraged toward suicide, and minors have become addicted to a tool that collects their data with no parental oversight. The release attributed those alleged harms to the company’s drive to win the AI arms race and amass large fortunes despite knowing the dangers of ChatGPT.
Paxton said in the release that OpenAI has a responsibility to protect users and warn them of the many dangers of its platform. He said he will fight to protect Texans from the harms of AI and to ensure that powerful technology companies are not above the law.
The office said Paxton will continue to ensure that Big Tech and AI companies advance responsibly. The release included a link to the lawsuit. The claims described are allegations made by the state, and the release did not include a response from OpenAI.