Florida is seeking a court order that would block OpenAI from presenting ChatGPT with human-like characteristics, marking a fresh escalation in the state’s legal action against the artificial intelligence company. Attorney General James Uthmeier has asked a judge to intervene, several months after Florida first sued OpenAI over safety concerns.
According to Uthmeier, users are lulled into a false sense of security by the AI system. He argues that ChatGPT’s use of language, including first-person pronouns and output that mimics emotion, deceptively suggests to users that it is a trustworthy “friend”. The filing contends that this design serves to increase engagement and contribute to OpenAI’s training data, encouraging users to rely on the tool more heavily even as its pursuit of engagement, in Uthmeier’s view, makes it potentially less trustworthy.
What the filing demands
Beyond the request to stop ChatGPT from adopting false human attributes, the filing asks the court to prevent OpenAI from developing new AI models without third-party approved safety guardrails. In support of that request, Uthmeier cites recent security incidents involving Hugging Face, an Australian government website, and United States government websites. The filing also points to recent statements from researchers and former OpenAI employees who have raised concerns about AI safety.
Uthmeier has framed his demands in blunt terms, urging the company to “Stop calling it safe. Stop pretending it’s human. Stop selling it to kids.” The message underscores the state’s focus on younger users and the way the technology is marketed to them.
OpenAI’s position on younger users
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Florida filing. The company recently launched ChatGPT for Teens, a version with additional restrictions applied by default. OpenAI said access to the tool should come with protections that reflect a young person’s developmental stage, reinforce real-world relationships, and support healthy use over time.
The dispute places the presentation of conversational AI at the centre of a legal question, as the state seeks to determine whether the way ChatGPT communicates amounts to a deceptive practice. The safety guardrails requested in the filing would apply to future model development rather than only to the current product.
The motion asks the court for a temporary injunction against OpenAI, extending Florida’s earlier lawsuit into a request for immediate judicial action.
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