Montana lawsuit over ChatGPT and child safety advances in state court

Montana's Attorney General, Austin Knudsen, has filed a lawsuit claiming that OpenAI's chatbot, ChatGPT, is dangerous to children. The case, filed in Lewis and Clark County, is now moving through state court in its early phases.

According to the Attorney General, OpenAI has 90 days to respond to the filing. He indicated that the case will then enter discovery, during which his office will request documentation and communications. His office said it hopes for a response in the coming weeks.

The lawsuit alleges that ChatGPT endangers children and teenagers by providing harmful advice and failing to adequately protect young users. Knudsen referred to documented cases in which the chatbot gave dangerous instructions, and he described a system that seeks positive reinforcement from its users in ways that can lead to harmful results.

Knudsen said he is seeking changed behaviour from the company. He pointed to the absence of age verification and parental consent for young people using the service. For its part, OpenAI said that attempts to generate sexual roleplay or abusive scenarios involving minors violate its child safety policies, that its systems are designed to detect and block such attempts, that associated accounts are banned, and that apparent child sexual abuse material is reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The case is relevant to families because it tests whether state authorities can compel changes to how AI products treat children, including questions of consent, age verification and the advice such systems provide to young users.

This account is based on reporting by NBC Montana.