Florida sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of putting profit over safety

FIRST ON NBC NEWSArtificial intelligenceArtificial intelligenceFlorida sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of putting profit over safetyFlorida’s seeks to hold Sam Altman personally liable, accusing OpenAI of marketing ChatGPT as safe while concealing that it could drive users toward harm.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Community members, students, and faculty gathered for a vigil honoring the victims of the 2025 Florida State University shooting in Tallahassee, Fla.Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 1, 2026, 10:33 AM EDTBy Abigail Brooks and Jared PerloFlorida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday, accusing the company of putting profit over safety, fueling violence and pushing a product it knew could harm users.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.“The rise of OpenAI is attributable to a web of deceit and the exploitation of users (including Floridians), leveraging their data and safety to boost OpenAI’s market value at unacceptable costs,” said the complaint reviewed by NBC News and filed Monday. The civil action, seeking penalties and a court order rather than criminal charges, said Uthmeier “seeks to hold Altman personally liable for the harm he has caused Floridians through his reckless and willful conduct as founder and CEO of OpenAI, including his utter disregard for the risk to human life caused by his firms’ conduct.” The action is separate from a criminal investigation into OpenAI that Uthmeier opened in late April, which remains ongoing. The wide-ranging lawsuit accuses OpenAI of four counts of deceptive and unfair trade practices, two counts of negligence, two counts of violating product liability laws, and one count each of fraudulent misrepresentation and causing a public nuisance. The suit claims that OpenAI’s systems present a “great danger of addiction, cognitive decline,...