Texas accuses OpenAI of putting profits ahead of user safety
Attorney General Ken Paxton is turning up the heat on OpenAI.
OpenAI on pink. Nurphoto via Cybernews.
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- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman over ChatGPT safety claims.
- The lawsuit alleges OpenAI failed to warn Texans about inaccurate or harmful chatbot outputs.
- Texas says OpenAI put growth and market value ahead of user safety, including children’s safety.
- The state seeks compliance with Texas consumer protection and child online safety laws.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, for making false claims about ChatGPT’s safety and reliability.
According to Paxton, OpenAI has failed to protect Texans, including children, from the many harms of relying on its AI chatbot, ChatGPT.
The chatbot operates as a large language model, or LLM, meaning that output is generated depending on the prompts it receives from users.
Without adequate safeguards, LLMs can output inaccurate or harmful information, and this risk is not disclosed to users, Attorney General Paxton argues.
He’s referring to reports highlighting the dangers of undertrained and rogue AI chatbot technology, including mass shootings, public humiliation, suicide, and addiction.
“This litany of harms is driven by the company’s insatiable quest to win the AI arms race and amass large fortunes, despite knowing the dangers of ChatGPT,” Attorney General Paxton says in a statement.
“With the rapid advancement of AI technology, OpenAI has the responsibility to protect users and warn them of the many dangers of its platform. I will fight to protect Texans from the harms of AI and ensure that powerful technology companies are not above the law,” he continues.
According to the lawsuit, OpenAI was valued at $17 billion in 2022. Since then, the valuation has risen to over $1.4 trillion.
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“This success has not been earned; the rise of OpenAI is attributable to a web of deceit and the exploitation of users (including Texans), leveraging their data and safety to boost OpenAI’s market value at unacceptable costs and jeopardizing everyone in Texas,” the indictment states.
Through this lawsuit, Texas seeks to compel OpenAI to comply with its obligations under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices – Consumer Protection Act (DTPA) and the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act.
Over the past few years, Paxton has sued several major tech companies, including Google, Meta, Netflix, Roblox, and TikTok. He is the Republican nominee for the 2026 United States Senate election in Texas, where he faces Democrat James Talarico.
