Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit on Monday against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging that the company misrepresented the safety of its ChatGPT platform and caused harm to children.
The lawsuit, filed in Florida state court, marks the first legal action brought by a U.S. state against the company.
According to the complaint, ChatGPT has harmed children by providing information to school shooters, offering guidance on self-harm, and addicting young users. The lawsuit cites a shooting at a Tallahassee university last year, along with several incidents in other states where ChatGPT allegedly provided information to individuals who later committed acts of violence.
At a press conference, Uthmeier said the state named Altman personally because he had been “very central” to pushing some of the features on ChatGPT that Uthmeier said had been the most harmful.
“People are getting hurt, parents are getting deceived, and they need to pay for it,” Uthmeier told reporters.
The lawsuit seeks damages that could reach billions of dollars, according to Uthmeier. It also requests a court order requiring OpenAI to change how ChatGPT interacts with young users.
A spokesperson for OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
OpenAI 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.
In April, Uthmeier announced a criminal investigation into ChatGPT’s role in a 2025 mass shooting at Florida State University after prosecutors reviewed chat logs between the alleged shooter and the program.
OpenAI is also facing a lawsuit from the family of a person killed in the Florida State University shooting. In addition, family members of victims of one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings filed lawsuits in April, alleging that OpenAI and Altman knew eight months before the attack that the shooter was planning it on ChatGPT but did not warn police.
