At least eight states are suing OpenAI, alleging its popular chatbot harmed kids and violated consumer protection laws.

Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and West Virginia each filed their own lawsuits in state court, according to an announcement Wednesday from Iowa’s attorney general.

The litigation was announced at a news conference in Des Moines, Iowa, that also included the attorneys general from Kansas, Nebraska and West Virginia.

“OpenAI claims ChatGPT is safe while it’s giving dangerous medical advice, encouraging people to hurt others, and coaching people to commit suicide — all while pretending to be their fake friend,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a Republican, said in a statement. 

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In recent months, the company created ChatGPT for Teens, introduced parental controls, and supported chatbot safety legislation. 

The lawsuits represent the latest salvo in a state-led effort to rein in artificial intelligence chatbots that mimic human interactions and that have been implicated in a range of harms to youth, including suicides.

The death of California teenager Adam Raine last year has been a catalyst. Raine took his own life after extensive interactions with ChatGPT. His parents sued OpenAI and have alleged that the chatbot “coached” Adam to suicide.

State legislators have responded by passing more than a dozen chatbot protection laws. Attorneys general have launched investigations into OpenAI. In June, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed what his office said was the first state-led lawsuit against the company. 

Iowa’s lawsuit alleges that OpenAI rushed ChatGPT to market in late 2022 and that the chatbot poses a threat to the public, including design features that aim to maximize user engagement. The complaint cites several examples from around the country of individuals who were allegedly harmed or died as a result of interactions with ChatGPT, including Raine. 

The lawsuit also references recent events where OpenAI agents escaped their testing environment and engaged in cyberattacks, including of the AI company Hugging Face. 

Iowa accuses OpenAI of violating the state’s consumer fraud act. It seeks up to $40,000 for each violation, plus $5,000 per violation involving “an older individual.”

Other relief sought includes an order requiring OpenAI to destroy data obtained from Iowa residents and a ban on “further testing of advanced AI models until adequate safeguards are implemented.” 

The lawsuit also seeks reimbursements to Iowa residents who purchased a product or service from OpenAI. 

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said in a news release that OpenAI harmed children, deceived parents and violated the state’s consumer fraud law.

The complaint, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, alleges that OpenAI put profits over safety in its rush to introduce ChatGPT as the first generative-AI chatbot to attain widespread public use, and accuses the company of using manipulative tactics to maximize compulsive use among young people.

The suit asks the court to stop OpenAI from “engaging in deceptive, misleading, or unfair acts or practices” that violate state law and to pay the state a penalty of up to $10,000 per violation of the consumer fraud act.

“We’re suing OpenAI to protect Arizona children and to hold the company accountable for its repeated violations of Arizona law,” Mayes said in a statement. 

Other states, including Alabama and California, have open investigations of OpenAI stemming from the Hugging Face incident.

Arizona Senior Statehouse Reporter Rachel Ohm contributed to this report.