OpenAI Faces State Lawsuits Over ChatGPT Child Safety

Fines of $50,000 per violation and a requirement to verify users' ages are only part of the heavy demands prosecutors have made in this case.

Fines of $50,000 per violation and the requirement to verify the age of users are only part of the heavy demands of the prosecutors in this court case.

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OpenAI is facing a new legal attack from eight US states. Attorneys general in those states allege that ChatGPT encouraged some users, including teenagers, to harm themselves or others.

A bipartisan group of attorneys general filed separate lawsuits Wednesday accusing OpenAI of misleading consumers about safety and designing its chatbot, ChatGPT, to gain user trust before reinforcing illusions or facilitating risky behavior.

The states of Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, and West Virginia also accused OpenAI of misleading consumers about the safety of ChatGPT and called for a range of restrictions, from limiting testing of advanced models to deleting user data. Below is what each state requires as compensation.

Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays alleges that OpenAI used excessive consent and simulated empathy to gain user trust and collect personal data. He says:

"OpenAI has designed a product to attract young users and keep them engaged for as long as possible in order to obtain their vast personal data for the company's commercial interests. "OpenAI has put the safety of Arizonans at risk by failing to implement adequate user safeguards or transparency measures."

Arizona is seeking fines of up to $10,000 for each willful violation, according to the state's complaint. The state also wants to prohibit OpenAI from deploying or testing advanced models outside of a secure environment approved by independent entities and require immediate reporting of incidents in which models get out of control or access systems without permission.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin also claimed that OpenAI hid known risks; While assuring consumers that ChatGPT was safe, it also illegally collected personal information from teenagers. Griffin said in a statement:

"OpenAI assures us that ChatGPT is secure. The consequences of this confidence are the loss of lives and the injury of people.

The state is seeking financial penalties and an injunction to prohibit the collection of data from minors. Arkansas also wants to halt further testing of advanced artificial intelligence and the construction of recursively self-healing models (a process in which an AI system continuously improves its code and algorithms without human intervention) until adequate safeguards are in place.

Idaho Attorney General Raoul Labrador alleges that OpenAI misled consumers about the safety of ChatGPT while encouraging self-harm and violence, promoting delusions and providing dangerous medical advice. In its lawsuit, Idaho is seeking $5,000 in fines for each violation of consumer protections and court-ordered safeguards, including age verification and restrictions on harmful or addictive features.

Other plaintiff states have made similar allegations of misleading users about ChatGPT's safety and have called for heavy fines and stricter restrictions. In addition to requiring the states of Iowa and Montana to stop or limit testing of advanced models to secure and approved environments, the states of Iowa and Montana have also addressed the dangers of autonomous AI agents; So that Montana has demanded an immediate report if these models become unruly and get out of control again, and along with Iowa and West Virginia, they have demanded the complete deletion of data collected from citizens and children.

In terms of financial penalties, Iowa seeks fines of up to $40,000 per violation (plus $5,000 for violations against seniors over 60), and Montana calls for fines of $10,000 for consumer violations and $7,500 for privacy violations.

Meanwhile, the states of Kansas, Nebraska and West Virginia have focused specifically on addictive design, obsessive use and emotional dependence in children. In addition to asking for refunds, Kansas has asked for fines of $10,000 to $20,000 per violation, and Nebraska has called for the heaviest fines of up to $50,000 for age-appropriate design violations (and $2,000 for deceptive business practices), along with easy tools to limit usage time.

The state of West Virginia is also calling for $5,000 fines for repeat violations, default limits on session length and nighttime use by children, parental controls, age verification, mandatory crisis management protocols and OpenAI's funding of digital safety education in public schools.

My professional career in the world of technology goes back almost 10 years; The path that started with hardware, continued with software, and now continues as a technology reporter in Sefir Arjan. I am Javad and more than three decades have passed and in addition to the world of technology, I love movies and cinema, classic rock music and Real Madrid.