Florida's Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a civil lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing the company of deceptive trade practices and negligence. The suit claims OpenAI knowingly pushed a harmful product that exploits users while boosting market value. It seeks penalties and court orders rather than criminal charges.

The complaint connects ChatGPT to multiple violent incidents, including a Florida State University mass shooting where the attacker allegedly discussed plans with the chatbot. Two University of South Florida students were also killed this year by someone reportedly in contact with ChatGPT during planning. Similar cases involve a British Columbia shooting where OpenAI flagged suspicious activity but failed to alert authorities.

Beyond violence, the lawsuit targets ChatGPT's reliability issues, arguing the company doesn't disclose that its systems can provide false or hallucinated information. It also criticizes the chatbot's sycophantic responses as deliberate tactics to increase user engagement and training data. At least eight lawsuits now target OpenAI for mass violence or self-harm incidents.

OpenAI maintains it designs systems with safety safeguards and de-escalation capabilities, claiming it's not responsible for user actions. However, real-world tragedies suggest current protections may be insufficient, raising questions about AI companies' liability for platform misuse.