LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sued OpenAI on Wednesday, Oct. 14, alleging the company misled consumers about ChatGPT’s safety, concealed known risks and unlawfully collected or retained children’s and teens’ personal information.
The 73-page complaint, filed in Faulkner County Circuit Court, seeks restitution, civil penalties, additional safety disclosures and court orders restricting some advanced artificial intelligence testing and development. The case is numbered 23CV-26-2984.
OpenAI has responded to the broader wave of state lawsuits by pointing to its safeguards for younger users. In an emailed statement to the Idaho Capital Sun, company spokesperson Drew Pusateri said OpenAI had built protections for different age groups and would continue improving them.
What Arkansas Alleges
Griffin’s office alleges OpenAI promoted ChatGPT as safe while knowing the chatbot had significant risks and limitations that were not adequately disclosed to consumers.
The state says users, including minors, obtained instructions related to self-harm and suicide. It also alleges users could bypass safety measures and receive responses that OpenAI said its safeguards were intended to prevent.
“OpenAI assures us that ChatGPT is safe. The consequences of that assurance are lives lost and people harmed,” Griffin said in an announcement of the lawsuit.
The complaint also alleges that ChatGPT’s conversational design encourages users to rely on it and can create emotional dependence. Those assertions are allegations in the state’s civil complaint, rather than findings by a court.
The claims fall into three broad categories:
Consumer protection: The state alleges violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act through false representations, deceptive or unconscionable practices and the omission of material information about ChatGPT’s risks.
Children’s and teens’ privacy: The state alleges violations of the Children’s and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act involving the collection and retention of minors’ personal information and failures to provide required notice or obtain consent.
Common-law claims: The lawsuit includes negligence, strict liability based on alleged design defects and failures to warn, unjust enrichment and public nuisance.
OpenAI Points to Safeguards
“We’ve built industry-leading age-specific protections into our product that many other AI products lack,” Pusateri told the Idaho Capital Sun.
He acknowledged that the system is imperfect and said the company would keep consulting experts and developing safeguards. He cited existing parental controls, reminders to take breaks and protections tailored to users’ ages.
Pusateri also said OpenAI supports working with states on AI policies that cover the industry as a whole. His comments addressed the state lawsuits broadly; they were provided to the Idaho Capital Sun, rather than directly to NEA Report.
What the State Wants
Arkansas is asking the court to declare that OpenAI violated the state’s consumer protection and youth privacy laws and to prohibit further violations. It also seeks an order barring the collection and use of children’s and teens’ personal information in violation of the privacy law.
The complaint requests clearer disclosures of ChatGPT’s material risks and limitations, restitution for consumers harmed by deceptive practices, damages and additional safety measures.
It seeks civil penalties of $10,000 for each alleged violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, plus an additional $10,000 per violation involving an older person or a person with a disability under the provisions cited in the complaint.
The requested relief also extends to future AI development. Arkansas seeks to stop further testing of advanced AI models until adequate safeguards are implemented and verified by independent third-party monitors.
The state separately asks the court to prohibit the creation of models capable of recursive self-improvement — improving their own capabilities — until the company can ensure those models will align with human values. Those are restrictions the state is requesting, not orders already imposed by the court.
Other States File Similar Cases
The action accompanies similar lawsuits filed separately in other states. An announcement from Nebraska’s attorney general identifies Iowa, Kansas, West Virginia, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho and Montana as states that also sued.
Griffin has requested a jury trial.
Read the Arkansas complaint here.
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