八个州起诉 OpenAI，称 ChatGPT 对儿童并不安全

OpenAI 正面临来自美国八个州的新一轮诉讼。这些州指控该公司伤害儿童，并在 ChatGPT 的安全性问题上误导消费者，路透社此前曾报道。爱荷华州、堪萨斯州、内布拉斯加州、西弗吉尼亚州、阿肯色州、亚利桑那州、爱达荷州和蒙大拿州分别提起诉讼，称 OpenAI 在开发 ChatGPT 时违法地将利润置于安全之上。

这一系列诉状称，OpenAI 未能警告消费者 ChatGPT 的危险性，因而违反了当地消费者保护法。诉状援引了多起由青少年家属、家长及成年人的家属提起的诉讼；这些诉讼指称，这款 AI 聊天机器人在其亲人死亡事件中扮演了某种角色。各州称，OpenAI 将 ChatGPT 误导性地描述为“将安全放在首位、适合青少年使用的工具”，但它实际上“对脆弱用户构成危险”——包括“削弱批判性思维能力、助长偏执和妄想、提供危险的医疗建议，以及推动不健康的行为和关系”。

此外，各州指控 OpenAI 收集未成年人的数据，且没有采取足够措施防止未达到年龄要求的用户使用该聊天机器人。诉讼还援引了近期失控 AI 黑客攻击事件，作为 OpenAI 被指“鲁莽行事”的证据。

“OpenAI 已经背离了其最初作为一家以公共利益为先、重视安全的非营利机构的使命，沦为一个警示案例：当像 AI 这样强大的工具的发展不是由安全驱动，而是由不惜一切代价追逐利润、并将必要安全措施边缘化的思维所驱动时，可能会发生什么，”亚利桑那州的诉状称。

OpenAI 发言人 Drew Pusateri 在发送给 The Verge 的电子邮件声明中表示，该公司已将“行业领先的分龄保护措施”内置于 ChatGPT：

尽管没有任何系统能够做到完美，我们仍将继续与专家合作，为相关工作提供参考，并构建更多保障措施，例如现有的家长控制、休息提醒及适龄模型保护。我们致力于与各州合作，推动适用于整个 AI 行业——而非仅适用于某一家公司的——务实 AI 政策。

各州要求法院责令 OpenAI 支付一系列民事罚款，并停止在 ChatGPT 的安全性问题上误导公众。部分州还寻求删除非法收集的个人数据。

_**更新，10 月 14 日：**补充 OpenAI 的声明。

OpenAI is facing a new wave of lawsuits from eight US states that accuse the company of harming children and misleading customers about the safety of ChatGPT, as reported earlier by Reuters. The lawsuits, filed separately by Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana, allege OpenAI unlawfully put profits over safety when developing ChatGPT.

The string of complaints claims that OpenAI violated local consumer protection laws by failing to warn customers about the dangers of ChatGPT, citing several lawsuits filed by the family members of teens and adults that allege the AI chatbot played a role in their loved ones’ deaths. They allege that while OpenAI misleadingly presented ChatGPT as a “safe, youth-appropriate tool that puts safety first,” it was actually “dangerous to vulnerable users” — including by “degrading critical thinking skills, encouraging paranoias and delusions, offering dangerous medical advice, and promoting unhealthy behaviors and relationships.”

Additionally, the states accuse OpenAI of collecting data from minors and not doing enough to keep underage users from using the chatbot. The lawsuits also cite recent rogue AI hacking incidents as evidence of OpenAI’s alleged “recklessness.”

“OpenAI has devolved from its original mission as a public-first nonprofit that prioritized safety into a cautionary tale about what can happen when the development of a tool as powerful as AI is driven not by safety, but by a profit‑at‑all‑costs mindset that sidelines essential safeguards,” Arizona’s lawsuit claims.

In an emailed statement to The Verge , OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri says the company has “built industry-leading age-specific protections” into ChatGPT:

While no system can be perfect, we’ll continue to work with experts to inform our work and build additional safeguards, such as the parental controls, break reminders and age-appropriate model protections that exist today. We’re committed to working with states on advancing pragmatic AI policies that apply to the entire AI industry - not just one company.

The states are asking the courts to force OpenAI to pay a series of civil penalties and to stop misleading the public about the safety of ChatGPT. Some states are also seeking the deletion of unlawfully collected personal data.

Update, October 14th: Added a statement from OpenAI.