Florida attorney general seeks temporary injunction against OpenAI, Altman

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(Legal Newsline) – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has asked a court for a new temporary injunction against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman over ChatGPT.

In filing the request September 28, Uthmeier said ChatGPT is unsafe and deceptive and is already harming Floridians, especially children.

“Four months ago, Florida filed the first state-led lawsuit in the nation against OpenAI and Sam Altman,” Uthmeier said in announcing Monday’s filing. “We said ChatGPT was unsafe, deceptive and already harming Floridians, especially our children. They chose profit over public safety.

“Since then, the evidence has only grown.”

Uthmeier mentioned ChatGOP breaking into HuggingFace and gaining unauthorized access to an Australian government health system.

“And OpenAI waited months to tell them,” Uthmeier said. “Their own board member now says there's a meaningful risk of catastrophic loss of control, and that OpenAI is not on track to stop it. They asked the government to tie them to the mast.”

Uthmeier said Florida is “answering their cries for help” by asking the court for the new temporary injunction to restrict OpenAI’s development and marketing practices.

“No new model development without independent safety guardrails,” he said. “No more harvesting children’s data. No more calling this product safe, accurate or reliable. No more pretending it's human. No more tricks designed to keep users talking past the point of danger. Stop calling it safe. Stop pretending it's human. Stop selling it to kids.”

Uthmeier also called on Altman to help.

“If Sam Altman meant what he said about slowing down, he can join our ask to the court,” Uthmeier said. “If he will not, we ask the court to do what OpenAI will not do for itself. Protect Florida families.”

In the civil complaint filed June 1 in Highlands County, Uthmeier said OpenAI and Altman prioritized speed to market and commercial gain over user safety, disregarded repeated warnings from experts both inside and outside the company, and deployed a product that facilitates and encourages harm – including self-harm and violence – while falsely assuring users it was safe.