Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman on June 1, 2026, filing an 83-page complaint in Florida's 10th Judicial Circuit that accuses the company of knowingly releasing an unsafe product and seeks to hold Altman personally liable for ChatGPT-linked harms. (Source: wsj.com; nbcnews.com; latimes.com) It is the first state attorney general civil enforcement action in a cluster of ChatGPT-harm suits otherwise composed of private cases. (Source: wsj.com)
Court: Florida 10th Judicial Circuit Filed: June 1, 2026 Status: Active — civil action filed June 1, 2026.
Parties
The plaintiff is the State of Florida, by Attorney General James Uthmeier. The defendants are OpenAI and Sam Altman, who is named individually; the complaint seeks to hold Altman personally liable. (Source: nbcnews.com)
Background
The complaint alleges that OpenAI misled families about ChatGPT's dangers and prioritized speed and commercial gain over safety in releasing the product. In June 5 reporting, Uthmeier framed the conduct as the company knowingly causing harm in its "insatiable quest to win the AI arms race." (Source: nbcnews.com; nytimes.com; wsj.com) At a June 1, 2026 news conference, Uthmeier said "people are getting hurt." (Source: nytimes.com; latimes.com)
The complaint and Uthmeier's public statements rest on several factual anchors:
- Florida State University mass shooting (2025). The complaint alleges a role for ChatGPT in the 2025 FSU shooting that left two people dead. The shooting is already subject to a separate investigation Uthmeier's office opened. (Source: wsj.com; latimes.com) See the related private suit by an FSU victim's family (OpenAI litigation section) and the underlying conduct tracked at Tumbler Ridge Families v. OpenAI.
- 2025 California teen suicide. A California teenager's suicide, cited by Uthmeier alongside the FSU case at the June 1 news conference. (Source: nytimes.com; latimes.com)
- Kratom/Xanax teen death. A teenager's death after the chatbot described mixing kratom and Xanax. (Source: wsj.com)
Claims
The 83-page complaint pleads eleven counts: four counts of deceptive trade practices, two counts of negligence, two counts of product liability, one count of fraudulent misrepresentation, and one count of public nuisance. (Source: wsj.com) The deceptive-trade-practices counts are brought under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA). (Source: politico.com) The action thus combines consumer-protection theories (deceptive trade practices, fraudulent misrepresentation) with tort theories (negligence, product liability, public nuisance). See AI Liability.
The civil action seeks civil penalties and an injunction. (Source: wsj.com) It also demands stronger parental controls from a product the complaint notes is used by more than 900 million people weekly. (Source: nytimes.com; latimes.com)
Procedural history
The civil suit follows a criminal investigation Uthmeier opened against OpenAI in late April 2026 over ChatGPT's role in the FSU shooting. (Source: nbcnews.com) See Tumbler Ridge Families v. OpenAI for the FSU-shooting investigation tracker. Uthmeier filed the civil complaint on June 1, 2026 and announced it at a news conference the same day, where he said the April criminal investigation would continue. (Source: cnbc.com)
The action joins a cluster of at least seven existing suits alleging ChatGPT contributed to suicides or delusions. (Source: wsj.com) Parallel private cases include Raine v. OpenAI, Inc. (wrongful death). Among that cluster, the Florida action is the first brought by a state attorney general.
Current status
The civil action remains active following its June 1, 2026 filing, with the last status check on June 4, 2026.
Commentary
The personal-liability theory against Altman mirrors the individual-defendant framing in Raine v. OpenAI, Inc.. On Section 230, legal observers note that the suit's product-liability theory parallels the litigation wave against social-media platforms, but that Section 230 may offer AI companies weaker protection because the chatbot itself produces the speech at issue rather than hosting third-party content. (Source: politico.com) Uthmeier said on June 1 that he expects other states to follow. (Source: cnbc.com)
Relationships
- instance-of: AI Liability
- litigates: against OpenAI
- related: Raine v. OpenAI, Inc., Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc., Tumbler Ridge Families v. OpenAI, Sam Altman, AI Mental Health and Psychological Harm