Florida wants outside oversight before OpenAI’s next model

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier wants a judge to stop OpenAI from building new AI models unless an outside party oversees the work, Reuters reported on September 28. He made the request in a motion for a temporary injunction, the kind of order that binds a defendant while the case is still being heard.

The motion asks for two more things. OpenAI would have to keep minors off ChatGPT, and it would be barred from giving the chat platform “human attributes.” Both of those deal with how ChatGPT is presented and who gets to use it. The first request goes much further, because it would put OpenAI’s model development under outside oversight while a consumer-harm case is still being argued. It is unclear whether a hearing on the motion has been scheduled.

The motion is part of the suit Florida filed in June in rural Highlands County against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. The complaint runs 83 pages and brings claims for unfair trade practices, negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation and public nuisance. It also seeks to hold Altman personally liable for unspecified damages. The state alleges that OpenAI misrepresented ChatGPT’s safety and that the platform harmed children by giving information to school shooters, offering guidance on self-harm and addicting young users. None of this has been proven in court.

The case grew out of the April 17, 2025 shooting at Florida State University. Prosecutors went through ChatGPT logs attributed to the accused shooter, and in April 2026 Uthmeier opened a criminal investigation into OpenAI. Prosecutors say the gunman used ChatGPT to help plan the attack, including asking about the best time and place to maximize casualties and which weapons to use, Courthouse News Service reported. Two people were killed and seven injured. “If it was a human being on the other side of that conversation, we would be charging them for conspiracy to commit murder,” Uthmeier said.

The complaint goes beyond the shooting. It blames OpenAI for contributing to “cognitive decline” and “behavioral addiction,” and argues that the company’s advertising does not disclose that ChatGPT can be wrong or give hallucinated answers, Courthouse News said.

Individuals have sued OpenAI too. Courthouse News lists suits from parents of FSU shooting victims, over medical advice allegedly leading to a Texas teen’s drug overdose, and over a California teen who killed his mother. In Canada, British Columbia has sued over the Tumbler Ridge shooting. Uthmeier has called Florida’s case “monumental” and predicted that other states would soon follow, the outlet reported.