Florida has become the first state in the union to sue ChatGPT producer OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman.
In a landmark lawsuit filed by Florida attorney general James Uthmeier, the state accused the entity and its chief executive of putting revenue over safety in order to grab market share with a product even though it knew it could harm users.
First reported by NBC News, the lawsuit takes the form of a civil action, looking to levy penalties and a court order in order to regulate OpenAI’s actions within the state (though it should be noted Florida also has an unrelated criminal investigation into OpenAI underway.)
In addition, Uthmeier “seeks to hold Altman personally liable for the harm he has caused Floridians through his reckless and willful conduct as founder and CEO of OpenAI, including his utter disregard for the risk to human life caused by his firms’ conduct.”
“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,” the state wrote in its complaint.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of the deadly mass shooting at Florida State University, where two people were killed and six injured. In the wake of that attack, it was discovered that far-right perpetrator Phoenix Ikner had extensively consulted ChatGPT to plan the shooting.
That was followed by another case from April, in which a suspect implicated in a double-murder at the University of South Florida was alleged to have planned his attacks with the popular AI chatbot.
Altogether, the state of Florida has charged OpenAI with a litany of penalties, including four counts of deceptive and unfair trade practices, two counts of negligence, two counts of product liability law violation, one count of fraudulent misrepresentation, and one count of causing a public nuisance.
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