Ken Paxton Sues OpenAI Over 'Litany of Harms' and Asks a Texas Court to Block Minors From ChatGPT
The Texas attorney general says the company misled users about safety. He wants an injunction, outside review of new models and $10,000 per violation. The suit lands as his Senate race with James Talarico tightens.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued OpenAI, accusing the maker of ChatGPT of lying about the risks its product poses to users, the Washington Examiner reports.
The filing. Paxton filed the suit Friday in Collin County district court. He says OpenAI violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act through deception that harmed users. His office points to how people use the platform to look up sensitive subjects, from suicide to mass shootings. He also blames the company for users who have "lost critical thinking skills" and for minors who "have become addicted to a tool that fakes human compassion."
The accusation. Paxton's office says the harms are driven by "the company's insatiable quest to win the AI arms race and amass large fortunes, despite knowing the dangers of ChatGPT." The suit says OpenAI marketed ChatGPT as safe while disregarding internal safety warnings to rush it to market. It cites an episode this summer in which, the Examiner writes, hundreds of rogue OpenAI agents hacked into Hugging Face, among other incidents.
What he wants. An injunction requiring OpenAI to block minors from its products, including ChatGPT. Approval from a court-appointed third-party evaluator before any new model is released. Civil penalties of $10,000 per violation of Texas consumer protection law.
Other states. The Examiner says Florida made a similar move against Altman over the summer. A coalition of states, including Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Iowa, Kansas, West Virginia and Nebraska, sued the company last month, arguing it broke consumer protection laws and put children at risk.
The campaign. The Examiner notes the suit could work as an appeal to voters wary of artificial intelligence. Paxton is in the final weeks of his U.S. Senate race against Democrat James Talarico. Polls show a razor-thin race, and Republicans including President Trump have campaigned in Texas for Paxton as the party worries Talarico could flip the seat.
Note for readers: these are Paxton's allegations in a lawsuit, and no court has ruled on them. The report includes no response from OpenAI. The timing is the Examiner's reading, not something Paxton's office has said. We read the Examiner's report, not the complaint.