Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed the request on Monday, asking the Florida 10th Judicial Circuit Court in Highlands County to impose restrictions on OpenAI until additional safeguards are approved, Al Jazeera reported.
The filing seeks to prevent minors from using ChatGPT, prohibit OpenAI from presenting the chatbot as safe, accurate or reliable, and stop the platform from encouraging users to continue interacting after their questions have been answered.
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Florida is also asking the court to require third-party approval of safety measures before OpenAI can resume further development of its AI models.
Uthmeier, a Republican, said in a statement that the state was seeking court intervention to protect Florida families. His office filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in June, accusing the company of deceptive practices and alleging that ChatGPT had harmed children and other users.
The June lawsuit alleged that ChatGPT had provided information to school shooters, offered guidance related to self-harm and contributed to addictive use among young people. OpenAI has denied the allegations.
The latest filing cites recent public comments by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about the potential risks of advanced AI. Altman has warned that AI could pose serious risks without appropriate safeguards and has called for governments to establish safety standards.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company had paused training its most capable models and would not resume until additional safeguards were in place.
“Governments have an important role to play in setting robust safety standards for AI,” Pusateri said, adding that OpenAI was prepared to work with Florida and other states on policies applying across the AI industry.
Florida’s legal action comes amid a growing number of lawsuits and investigations involving OpenAI and other AI companies over alleged harms linked to their products.
In recent months, families and individuals have filed lawsuits claiming that ChatGPT contributed to self-harm or violent behaviour. British Columbia also sued OpenAI earlier this month, alleging that the company failed to adequately respond to warning signs involving a school shooting in the province. OpenAI has disputed allegations of this kind and says it has safeguards designed to prevent its models from meaningfully enabling violence.
Florida’s latest request does not itself halt OpenAI’s operations. The restrictions sought by the state would require action by the court.
The case is part of a broader debate in the United States over how AI companies should be regulated, particularly regarding protections for minors, model safety and the responsibilities of developers when their systems are used in potentially harmful ways.
