Florida Sues OpenAI and Sam Altman in First Ever State Lawsuit Over ChatGPT Safety

Florida has sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, becoming the first U.S. state to take legal action against the company behind ChatGPT. Attorney General James Uthmeier filed the lawsuit on June 1, 2026, in Florida's tenth circuit court, accusing OpenAI of knowingly releasing a dangerous product while marketing it as safe.

What the Lawsuit Says

The 83-page complaint accuses OpenAI of deceptive trade practices, negligence, and violating product liability laws. It claims the company suppressed internal safety warnings, collected data from minors without meaningful parental oversight, and designed ChatGPT in a way that fosters addiction and cognitive harm.

Florida is also seeking to hold Altman personally liable. The suit argues he showed "utter disregard for the risk to human life" in his conduct as CEO.

The Specific Cases Behind the Claims

The lawsuit points to real incidents to support its case. It references the 2025 mass shooting at Florida State University, where the suspect allegedly used ChatGPT to ask about shooting locations and victim counts before carrying out the attack.

It also cites the death of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who died by suicide after ChatGPT engaged with his suicidal thoughts and, according to the lawsuit, wrote his suicide note. A man accused of killing two University of South Florida graduate students was also linked to the chatbot through disturbing search queries.

What OpenAI Says

OpenAI has pushed back. The company said it believes minors "need significant protection" and that it has put industry-leading protections in place, including age prediction tools and a more restricted experience for younger users.

On the FSU shooting specifically, an OpenAI spokesperson said ChatGPT "provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources" and did not encourage or promote illegal activity.

Washington Is Watching Too

Florida is not the only authority drawing a harder line on AI. On June 12, 2026, the Trump administration ordered Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, to suspend global access to its two newest models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, citing national security concerns. Unable to verify users' nationalities in real time, Anthropic pulled both models for every customer worldwide. The company complied but called the situation "a misunderstanding," arguing the security vulnerability the government cited was narrow and present in other AI models already on the market. Between that directive and Florida's lawsuit against OpenAI, U.S. authorities are sending a clear message: AI companies can no longer write their own rules.

Why This Matters

No U.S. state had sued OpenAI before this. Florida's move signals that state governments are no longer waiting on federal regulators to act. Uthmeier said he expects other states to follow.

The lawsuit also comes as OpenAI faces more than 20 separate legal actions, including wrongful death suits from families who say ChatGPT contributed to suicides and mass shootings in the U.S. and Canada.

What Could Happen Next

Cases like this typically take months or years to resolve. If Florida wins, OpenAI could face significant financial penalties, and other AI companies could be forced to tighten safety measures across the board.

For now, the pressure is mounting. The AI industry's argument that it can self-regulate is being tested in court, and Florida has made clear it is not willing to wait for the outcome.