Florida Seeks Court Order to Halt ChatGPT Work Until Safety Rules Are Set
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier asked the 10th Judicial Circuit Court in Highlands County to halt further development of ChatGPT until third-party approved guardrails are in place. Al Jazeera
Uthmeier announced the filing on September 28, 2026, in a statement posted on X. The request seeks emergency injunctive relief, an urgent court order to stop or require action, against OpenAI and ChatGPT. The venue is a local county court. The practical effect could be national.
The petition asks the court to order OpenAI to stop minors from using ChatGPT. It also asks the court to prohibit OpenAI from giving ChatGPT human attributes, a practice often called anthropomorphism, and from advertising the system as safe, accurate or reliable. A further provision would bar OpenAI from prompting users to keep engaging after it answers a question. Al Jazeera
Florida is also asking the court to block OpenAI and Chief Executive Sam Altman from releasing any new artificial intelligence models without safeguards. Bloomberg Government That request was framed as an emergency injunction. Yahoo News It seeks to hold Altman personally liable. NBC News
The complaint identifies OpenAI Group PBC as the overarching for-profit entity of the OpenAI organization. It states the alleged statutory violations, or breaks of state law, occurred in or affected more than one judicial circuit in Florida. Uthmeier served as chief of staff to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis until 2025. Al Jazeera
The September filing builds on earlier state action. Florida launched a criminal probe into OpenAI and ChatGPT over a deadly shooting in April 2026. Reuters Florida then filed suit in 2026 alleging ChatGPT encouraged users into suicide and aided and abetted deadly rampages. The state became the first state to sue OpenAI over child safety risks. Reuters
That lawsuit alleged ChatGPT provided information to school shooters and offered guidance on self-harm. Reuters Florida accused OpenAI of marketing ChatGPT as safe while concealing risks. NBC News
The broader context here is jurisdictional and precedential, meaning which courts have power and what example this could set. State attorneys general have direct authority over consumer protection and deceptive trade claims within their borders. Florida is testing how far that power extends when software is built centrally and used across state lines. Courts will have to weigh injunction standards, including irreparable harm and likelihood of success, against whether age checks, limits on human-like traits and curbs on follow-up prompts are technically feasible.
Looking at what this means for regulation, the Florida approach differs from federal lawmaking or agency rulemaking. It would use state court orders to require product design changes and outside review. If granted, even on a temporary basis, such orders could force shifts in how ChatGPT is deployed, labeled and restricted for minors that affect users outside Florida. If denied, the underlying consumer protection claims could still proceed through discovery and trial, keeping training, safety testing and marketing statements under scrutiny. Other states will be watching the Highlands County docket closely.
