TL;DRFlorida became the first state to sue OpenAI, as the legal playbook that produced $375M in social media verdicts moves to AI. Courts have rejected Section 230 defences for chatbots, and over 20 lawsuits are now pending against OpenAI alone.
In the 1990s, almost every US state sued the tobacco industry. The resulting settlements cost hundreds of billions of dollars and transformed how cigarettes were marketed, sold, and regulated. Senator Ed Markey said in March that Big Tech’s Big Tobacco moment has arrived. He was talking about social media. But the legal machinery he described is already moving towards AI.
On 1 June, Florida became the first US state to sue OpenAI, filing an 83-page complaint alleging that ChatGPT is a dangerous product that has contributed to mass shootings and driven users to suicide. Attorney General James Uthmeier is seeking to hold CEO Sam Altman personally liable, with potential penalties running into the billions. The same week, a California court consolidated 12 separate product liability cases against OpenAI into a single proceeding.
The social media precedent
The legal strategy is not new. It follows the trajectory already tested against Meta and Google in over 2,400 active lawsuits brought by children, families, school districts, and 42 state attorneys general. Two landmark jury verdicts in March, $375 million in New Mexico and $6 million in California, found Meta and Google liable for negligence and failure to warn related to social media addiction in minors.
