Florida Sues Open AI for Deadly Lack of Safety Measures

Just a couple of weeks after a federal court ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, the State of Florida has taken the company back to the court of law. The allegations against Open AI in the new lawsuit are more serious, including the death of people that took their own lives or became victims of mass shootings.

On Monday (June 1), Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for failing to make its ChatGPT safe to use and thereby causing deaths via suicides as well as mass shootings, as reported in The Western Journal.

Florida’s lawsuit is said to be the first of its kind in trying to hold the powerful tech business accountable for the harm done by AI. The case runs parallel to AG Uthmeier’s investigation into the role of OpenAI in last spring’s shooting at the Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee that killed two people and injured six others.

The timing of the lawsuit is noteworthy since the Trump administration is reportedly in talks with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for a possible government stake in the company, as reported on CNBC (June 5). The channel’s source told that these talks have been going on for a year. The story wrote:

As part of the potential agreement, OpenAI could donate equity to the U.S. government to seed something like the “Public Wealth Fund” that the company outlined in its April policy proposal, the person said.

Concerns among conservatives over the operations of OpenAI, along with other big companies like Apple, continue over issues bordering culture and crime. Conservative commentator Benny Johnson called out these corporations when he appeared on Fox News in April and commented on race-baiting via hoax crimes like that of Jussie Smollett.

Last month, a federal jury in Oakland, California, ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI. Musk had sued the company for $150 billion in damages for changing its course to a profit-driven model instead of developing AI for the benefit of humanity. Musk expressed plans to appeal the ruling.

In November 2024, OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment a month after he accused the company of using dubious methods of training ChatGPT. He also accused OpenAI of blatantly violating copyright laws. A few months later, Balaji’s death was officially ruled suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.