An 83-page complaint with 10 counts targets not only OpenAI but also its CEO Sam Altman personally.
On Monday, June 1, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI in state circuit court, making Florida the first U.S. state to take legal action against the company and to seek personal liability for its CEO.
Not 'Product Defect' but 'Knowingly Harmful and Sold Anyway'
The complaint includes 10 counts, each weightier than the last:
- 4 counts of deceptive and unfair trade practices
- 2 counts of negligence
- 2 counts of product liability law violations
- 1 count of fraudulent misrepresentation
- 1 count of public nuisance
In plain terms, Florida's logic is: OpenAI sold ChatGPT to the public as a 'safe' product while knowing it could push people toward harm—and said nothing.
Uthmeier used strong language, saying Altman showed 'utter disregard for the risk to human life caused by his firms' conduct.' The complaint also states that OpenAI's rise was built on 'a web of deception and exploitation of users' to boost its market value at any cost.
This is no longer the tone of a commercial dispute.
Specific Deaths Put on the Table
Merely saying 'potentially harmful' wouldn't sustain a lawsuit. Florida included specific cases in the complaint:
- The April 2025 shooting at Florida State University (FSU), which the state alleges the perpetrator planned using ChatGPT
- The murder of two graduate students at the University of South Florida
- Several other homicides and suicides linked to ChatGPT
These cases have been in the news individually. Florida now strings them together into a causal chain, pointing to OpenAI: what role did your product play in these incidents?
This is a critical step. Previous lawsuits against AI companies mostly involved copyright, data, or contracts—money matters. Linking actual deaths to 'product liability' is a different ballgame.
OpenAI's Response: Sidestep Charges, Talk About Children First
An OpenAI spokesperson did not directly confront the 10 counts but first made a strong statement: 'Losing a child is the most devastating tragedy that can happen to a family and we know that no words can come close to addressing the pain of such a loss.'
Then came the defense: the company said it has implemented stricter protections for minors, including age prediction tools, defaulting to safer modes when age is uncertain, and parental monitoring features.
The subtext of this response is: we did manage it. Whether it holds up in court remains to be seen.
Why This Case Is a Watershed
Looking at the broader picture reveals the significance of this lawsuit.
At the federal level, the White House is still trying to centralize AI regulation; states hold thousands of bills, each wanting to set its own rules. In this tug-of-war, Florida didn't wait for the federal government and used existing laws—consumer protection, product liability, public nuisance—to sue OpenAI, and to seek personal damages from Altman.
This sets a precedent for all state attorneys general: no need for new laws; old ones suffice.
For OpenAI, this case is just one headache. The company is lining up for an IPO, and a lawsuit that drags in the CEO and involves deaths will weigh heavily in risk disclosures—investors know that.
As for how far the case can go, the two product liability counts are the real hurdles: classifying a conversational model's 'output' as a 'defective product' has no clear legal precedent. Florida is testing a new path.
Whether it succeeds will become clearer in the coming months of court proceedings.
Sources: Florida sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of putting profit over safety (NBC News); Florida Sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, Alleges Altman Showed 'Utter Disregard for the Risk to Human Life' (Variety); Florida AG sues OpenAI, seeks to hold CEO Altman personally liable for alleged harms (CNBC); CocoLoop; Florida sues OpenAI and Sam Altman over alleged safety lapses (NPR)