Florida v. OpenAI
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Jun 8, 2026
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Florida v. OpenAI is a civil enforcement lawsuit filed on June 1, 2026, by the State of Florida, through Attorney General James Uthmeier, against OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman. It is widely described in reporting as the first lawsuit brought by a U.S. state against OpenAI and as a first-of-its-kind state enforcement action that seeks to hold an AI company's chief executive personally liable for alleged harms tied to its product, ChatGPT. [1][2][3][4]
The 83-page complaint alleges, among other things, that OpenAI knowingly released and marketed an unsafe product, suppressed internal safety warnings, collected data from minors without meaningful parental consent, and built a chatbot whose design allegedly facilitated self-harm, addiction, and violence. All of these are allegations asserted in the filing and have not been adjudicated. Florida seeks civil penalties, injunctive relief, and damages that the attorney general's office has said could reach billions of dollars if the company is found liable. [3][5][6]
OpenAI has defended its conduct, stating that it has put industry-leading protections in place for minors and that it strengthens safeguards as the technology evolves. [7] The suit arrives amid a broader wave of 2025 to 2026 litigation over alleged AI-linked harms, including the wrongful-death case Raine v. OpenAI. [1][8]
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Plaintiff | State of Florida, by Attorney General James Uthmeier |
| Defendants | OpenAI (multiple corporate entities) and CEO Sam Altman, individually |
| Court | Florida state circuit court, Tenth Judicial Circuit (Highlands County) |
| Date filed | June 1, 2026 |
| Complaint length | 83 pages |
| Primary statute | Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA) |
The action was filed in Florida state court in the Tenth Judicial Circuit, which covers Highlands County. [2][6] It names OpenAI alongside Sam Altman as a named defendant in his individual capacity, a feature that reporters and legal commentators highlighted as unusual: the state is asking a court to hold a sitting technology CEO personally responsible for the company's alleged conduct. Uthmeier told reporters that Altman had been "very central" to pushing the specific ChatGPT features the state identified as most harmful, and the complaint refers to his alleged "utter disregard for the risk to human life caused by his firms' conduct." [4][6]
The filing followed an earlier state inquiry. Florida's Office of Statewide Prosecution opened a criminal investigation in April 2026 into ChatGPT's alleged role in a campus shooting, and the attorney general's office said the civil complaint draws on evidence developed during that investigation. [2][5]
According to the attorney general's office and reporting on the complaint, Florida is seeking:
The following are allegations made by the State of Florida in its complaint. They have not been proven in court, and OpenAI disputes them.
The lawsuit advances claims under several legal theories. Reporting on the complaint describes counts that include four counts of deceptive and unfair trade practices, two counts of negligence, two counts of violating product-liability law, and one count each of fraudulent misrepresentation and public nuisance. [1][3]
Core allegations described in reporting include:
The attorney general summarized the state's position in a statement: "OpenAI and Altman ignored internal and external safety warnings, put children at great risk, and allowed a dangerous product to reach millions of Floridians." [2][3]
Most of the AI-harm litigation that emerged in 2025 and 2026 was brought by private plaintiffs, typically families bringing wrongful-death, product-liability, or negligence claims. Florida v. OpenAI is distinctive because it is a government enforcement action: a state attorney general using state consumer-protection authority (FDUTPA) to seek civil penalties and an injunction against the company's practices, rather than damages on behalf of an individual family. [1][2]
Two features in particular drew attention:
Whether these theories succeed is an open question. Consumer-protection and product-liability claims against software, and attempts to pierce to individual officer liability, raise contested legal issues, and AI companies have historically argued that responsibility for misuse lies elsewhere. [4][8]
The suit sits within a fast-growing body of litigation over alleged harms linked to conversational AI and chatbots, part of a broader debate over AI regulation and AI safety.
Florida v. OpenAI marks a shift in how legal pressure on AI developers is being applied. By using state consumer-protection law to seek civil penalties, an injunction, and potentially large damages, Florida moved the locus of AI-harm accountability from individual private claims toward government enforcement, a mechanism that can compel changes to a product's design and marketing across an entire jurisdiction rather than compensating a single plaintiff. [2][5]
The personal-liability theory is significant for corporate governance and executive exposure in the AI industry: if a court were to allow claims that an AI CEO is individually responsible for product decisions linked to consumer harm, it could influence how AI companies make and document safety choices. The outcome may also shape how courts treat product-liability and deceptive-practices theories as applied to generative AI systems, an area with little settled precedent. [4][6][8]
As of June 9, 2026, the case is at an early stage. The allegations are unproven, OpenAI has signaled it will contest them and has pointed to its safety measures for minors, and the litigation, like the broader wave it belongs to, is likely to take considerable time to resolve. [7][8]