The state of Florida has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its chief executive – accusing the company of offering children guidance on self-harm and providing information helping school shooters and other criminals.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed the lawsuit – marking the first state to take legal action against the firm – alleging the company aggressively marketed AI chatbot ChatGPT while concealing serious risks.
"People are getting hurt, parents are getting deceived, and they need to pay for it," Mr Uthmeier told reporters at a news conference.
OpenAI said in a statement that work is continuously being carried out to strengthen safeguards and that ChatGPT is used by "hundreds of millions of people every day for legitimate purposes".
The legal filing cites a shooting at a university in Tallahassee last year, as well as a number of events in other states where ChatGPT allegedly provided information to people who went on to commit violence.
Chief executive Sam Altman is named personally, Mr Uthmeier said, because he has been "very central" to pushing some of the alleged harmful features on ChatGPT.
"OpenAI and Altman ignored internal and external safety warnings, put children at great risk, and allowed a dangerous product to reach millions of Floridians," he said.
Warning: This article contains references to suicide and violence that some readers may find distressing
OpenAI said its models repeatedly encouraged individuals to seek real-world support, including from mental health professionals. The company also said it has co-operated with law enforcement.
"ChatGPT is a general-purpose tool used by hundreds of millions of people every day for legitimate purposes," the company statement said. "We work continuously to strengthen our safeguards to detect harmful intent, limit misuse, and respond appropriately when safety risks arise."
The company has said it trains its models to refuse requests that could "meaningfully enable violence," and notifies law enforcement when conversations suggest "an imminent and credible risk of harm to others," with mental health experts helping assess borderline cases.
Mass shootings and suicide cited in lawsuit
AI companies are facing a growing wave of lawsuits accusing them of failing to prevent chatbot interactions that have allegedly contributed to self-harm, mental illness and violence.
OpenAI is also facing a lawsuit filed by the family of a man killed in the Florida State University shooting, claiming the gunman was aided by ChatGPT in planning the attack. Mr Uthmeier announced in April that he was launching a criminal investigation into ChatGPT's role in the shooting, in which two people were killed, after prosecutors reviewed the chat logs between the alleged shooter and the bot.
In another case, prosecutors have said a man charged with killing two University of South Florida doctoral students had asked ChatGPT what would happen if a human body were put in a rubbish bag and thrown in a dumpster, days before they went missing.
In April, family members of victims of one of Canada's deadliest mass shootings filed a group of lawsuits against OpenAI and Altman.
Adam Raine, a 16-year-old boy who killed himself last year following extensive conversations with ChatGPT, is also referenced in the Florida state lawsuit.
According to the complaint, when Raine expressed suicidal thoughts, ChatGPT said it would not try "to talk you out of your feelings". The chatbot allegedly helped Adam plan a "beautiful suicide" and even wrote a note for him.
In its statement, OpenAI acknowledged minors need significant protection and said it had protections and policies in place.
"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 [about] into our more protective experience, and giving parents tools to monitor their kids' use of AI," the statement said. "We know pointing to this work will not bring a child back, but we're committed to getting this right."
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help for free on 116 123, or visit samaritans.org. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
(c) Sky News 2026: Florida becomes first state to sue OpenAI - claiming ChatGPT helped criminals including
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