State of Florida vs. OpenAI

In a recent legal battle, the state of Florida has petitioned for an emergency restraining order against OpenAI, the creator of AI model ChatGPT. Republican James Uthmeier, the state's attorney general, filed the motion in a Florida court to halt OpenAI's development of new models until the company implements independent safety measures and restricts ChatGPT usage for children.

Uthmeier previously supported the first state lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman in May, claiming the company promotes an unsafe product that enables violent crimes and violates Florida's deceptive business practices and children's online privacy laws. Recently, an OpenAI board member stated there is a real risk of losing control over the AI and they are on the wrong path to prevent it, reported by Uthmeier in a video on X. Florida's solicitor general cites numerous security failures in AI models over the past months and the companies' resistance to reporting such issues.

Uthmeier also requested authorization from the state legislature to hold AI startups criminally liable if their Large Language Models (LLMs) assist in committing crimes. OpenAI claims it is cooperating with Florida and has suspended training of its most advanced models until additional safety measures are in place. This case could test the strength of states against the Trump administration's decision not to regulate AI.

While entities in the civil society and industry owners have called for regulation, former President Trump stated that the only control or protection AI needs is a strong and intelligent president, which the US already possesses. Palantir founder Alex Karp has argued that the push for regulation stems from the desire of major AI companies to protect themselves from liability that their actions may generate.

In Florida, both Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and state attorney general James Uthmeier have shown skepticism towards AI and favor its regulation at the state level.