BOISE, ID-Attorney General Raúl Labrador today announced a lawsuit against OpenAI for harms caused to Idaho children, deceiving parents, and violations of the Idaho Consumer Protection Act. The Idaho Consumer Protection Act prohibits false, deceptive, or misleading representations, as well as deceptive advertising, pricing, or contracts. The action against OpenAI was filed in Idaho's Fourth Judicial District Court, Ada County.

"The safety of Idaho children cannot be an afterthought to runaway profit or technological advancements," said Attorney General Labrador. "The expansion of artificial intelligence capabilities must not come at the expense of consumer protections. We will hold OpenAI accountable for their reckless priorities."

In 2022, OpenAI developed and released ChatGPT, the first generative chatbot to attain widespread public use. Now, ChatGPT is the most popular chatbot in the world, commanding nearly half the AI chatbot marketplace in the United States.

However, OpenAI has misled the public into believing that ChatGPT is a technological tool that puts consumer safety first. The reality is far different. Designed to be overly agreeable, accommodating, and to feign human compassion and connection, ChatGPT has proven dangerous to vulnerable users, like children, to even include coaching its users to commit suicide or to harm other people.

A growing body of research indicates that ChatGPT is also harming critical thinking skills, encouraging paranoias and delusions, offering dangerous medical advice, and promoting unhealthy behaviors and relationships.

Alarmingly, OpenAI recently admitted to several instances where its advanced models have "gone rogue" when "agents" were unleashed onto the internet and illegally hacked into other companies and coordinated on how to cover up their actions.

Given these accelerating threats, Attorney General Labrador is suing to compel OpenAI's compliance with the Idaho Consumer Protection Act and to cease its dangerous activities that have put Idahoans in harm's way with willfully reckless and unlawful conduct. Multiple states have filed similar suits based on consumer protection statutes.

Idaho's lawsuit can be read here.