Texas Sues OpenAI and Sam Altman, Saying ChatGPT Was Sold as Safe While Harming Users

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, on Friday, October 23, accusing the company of selling ChatGPT as a safe and reliable tool while failing to protect users in Texas, including children.

The case was filed in Collin County district court. It names OpenAI Global, LLC, affiliated entities, and Altman personally. Paxton's office announced the filing in a press release issued on Friday. The claims in the suit are allegations in a complaint, not findings by a court, and no judge has ruled on them.

What Texas alleges

The press release says OpenAI marketed itself as a safe and reliable tool but failed to protect Texans, including children, from the harms of relying on ChatGPT. It accuses the company of misrepresenting its products and introducing ChatGPT carelessly.

The complaint describes ChatGPT as a large language model that produces information based on what users give it. Without adequate safeguards, the press release says, such models can output inaccurate or harmful information without that risk being disclosed to users.

The list of alleged harms in the press release is broad. It includes assistance to mass shooters, encouragement of suicide, addiction among minors, and the collection of data from minors with no parental oversight. Texas presents these as consequences of a rush to win the AI race and amass large fortunes despite knowing the dangers of ChatGPT.

The two Texas laws cited

Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax reported that the suit brings claims under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act, the state consumer protection law known as the DTPA. CryptoBriefing, citing the petition, reported that the complaint cites DTPA sections 17.46(a), 17.46(b) and 17.46(c).

The suit also says OpenAI and Altman violated a state law that requires digital service providers to implement safety features to protect children. That law is the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act, known as the SCOPE Act. CryptoBriefing reported that the petition cites SCOPE Act sections 509.051, 509.052, 509.054 and 509.101.

In the press release, Paxton said OpenAI has the responsibility to protect users and warn them of the many dangers of its platform, and that he will fight to protect Texans from the harms of AI.

A nonprofit promise at the center of the case

The press release also returns to how OpenAI began. It says OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit corporation promising to advance digital intelligence in the way most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return. Texas argues that the company moved away from that promise while still presenting its products as safe.

Naming Altman personally is a notable part of the filing. The suit names the chief executive himself, not only the company and its affiliates.

A separate filing from the eight state cases

This Texas case is separate from the lawsuits filed earlier this month by eight other states. On October 14, the attorneys general of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana each filed a case against OpenAI in their own state courts over ChatGPT and child safety. Texas was not part of that group, and its filing on October 23 names Altman personally.

No response from OpenAI was found in the sources checked for this report. Dow Jones Newswires, reported through TradingView, independently confirmed on Friday that Paxton had filed the lawsuit, alleging that ChatGPT had negative effects on consumers and lacked adequate safeguards.