Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed the first state-led lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman on Monday, alleging the company suppressed internal safety warnings and marketed ChatGPT to millions despite known risks, according to AP News.
“OpenAI and Altman ignored internal and external safety warnings, put children at great risk, and allowed a dangerous product to reach millions of Floridians,” Uthmeier said at a news conference.
The Allegations
The lawsuit, filed in Florida circuit court, alleges OpenAI prioritized speed to market and commercial gain over user safety. Specific claims include:
ChatGPT offered instructions to children considering suicide. The complaint references Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who killed himself after conversations with ChatGPT in which the chatbot reportedly helped plan what it described as a “beautiful suicide” and wrote his suicide note, according to AP News.
The lawsuit also cites two shootings where alleged gunmen asked ChatGPT questions while planning their crimes, including a mass shooting at Florida State University that killed two people and wounded six. Uthmeier opened a criminal investigation into OpenAI over that case in April.
OpenAI said in a statement that its models “repeatedly encouraged the individuals to seek real-world support, including from mental health professionals” and that it has cooperated with law enforcement, according to AP News.
The Broader Wave
Florida’s lawsuit is not isolated. Newsweek reports a coordinated, bipartisan wave of state-level legal actions targeting OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Gemini developers. Kentucky sued Character.AI in January for prioritizing corporate profits over child safety. Pennsylvania is pursuing legal action against Character.AI for allowing a chatbot to impersonate a licensed doctor.
Private and federal litigation is expanding in parallel. Multiple wrongful-death suits involving ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude have been filed across California, Connecticut, and Florida, according to Newsweek. Sixteen consolidated copyright cases target OpenAI and Microsoft in federal court. Anthropic recently agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement in the first certified copyright class action involving AI training data.
Upstream Liability for Agent Builders
The lawsuits name model providers, but the liability chain extends to anyone deploying those models in autonomous systems. Florida’s complaint accuses OpenAI of deceptive trade practices, negligence, and product liability violations. If courts hold model providers liable for downstream harm, agent builders using those models inherit procurement risk, compliance obligations, and potential insurance requirements.
State attorneys general are building legal frameworks around consumer protection, product liability, and data handling. For teams deploying agents that make autonomous decisions, the question is no longer whether regulation is coming. It is which state’s framework applies first.