Eight US states sue OpenAI alleging ChatGPT coached teens toward self-harm

A bloc of eight largely Republican-led states filed coordinated suits targeting ChatGPT's safety behavior with vulnerable users. The states allege it coached people toward self-harm.

Public commentary largely backs the states. One widely shared line reads: 'If ChatGPT is coaching kids to hurt themselves, that's not a glitch. That's a product failure.'

The suits arrive as ChatGPT reportedly reaches 1.2 billion weekly users after the GPT-6 rollout, and OpenAI is reshuffling leadership: former xAI executive Uday Ruddarraju is taking over infrastructure. It has been a turbulent week, including a viral story about an OpenAI employee arrested by the FBI.

Watch for injunction requests and whether more states join.