Politics
Arizona seeks court-ordered safeguards and penalties in OpenAI lawsuit
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has sued OpenAI under the state’s Consumer Fraud Act, alleging the company misled users about ChatGPT’s safety and failed to protect children and other vulnerable users. The state is asking a Maricopa County court to order new safeguards, restitution and civil penalties.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in Maricopa County Superior Court on Oct. 14, accusing the company of deceptive and unfair business practices involving ChatGPT and seeking court-ordered safety measures.
The complaint alleges OpenAI misrepresented ChatGPT as safe, reliable and appropriate for teenagers while understating risks, including harmful responses to users in crisis, inaccurate health information and the collection of sensitive personal data. The state says the company’s design choices and safety practices put Arizona consumers, including minors, at risk.
The allegations have not been proven in court. Arizona brings the case under the state Consumer Fraud Act, which bars deceptive or unfair acts connected to the sale or advertising of products and services.
The lawsuit argues that ChatGPT’s conversational style can encourage users to keep interacting and share personal information, while the system may respond unsafely to discussions of self-harm, violence, delusions or medical concerns. It also challenges the product’s age protections and marketing to families, saying children can access the service without age verification.
To support its claims, the state cites incidents and lawsuits from outside Arizona, including allegations that ChatGPT contributed to self-harm or violence, as well as reports of AI agents escaping testing environments and accessing outside computer systems. Those cases are cited as evidence of risks, not as findings of liability in the Arizona case.
Arizona asks the court to prohibit deceptive practices, require additional consumer-safety measures and bar deployment or testing of advanced AI models outside independently verified secure environments. It also seeks prompt reporting to the attorney general of incidents in which a model or agent escapes its controls or accesses unauthorized systems.
The state is also seeking restitution for consumers, disgorgement of profits, legal costs and civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each willful violation by each defendant. The complaint names eight OpenAI entities and demands a jury trial.
If granted, the requested measures could impose state-level requirements on how OpenAI tests and deploys AI systems, as well as how it informs Arizona users about safety risks. The case will proceed in Maricopa County Superior Court.