OpenAI is accused of taking dangerous cyber risks for ‘private gain’ in lawsuit over rogue AI agents

In what is now one of many known cases, OpenAI’s agents went rogue in July, launching a cyberattack on Hugging Face. Now, the ChatGPT maker is being sued over that incident and the other attacks that have since come to light—such as its not-so-casual hacking of an Australian national healthcare database. Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Technology (LASST), a self-described public interest nonprofit, has sued OpenAI in San Francisco’s Superior Court. LASST alleges that OpenAI violated California’s Comprehensive Data Access and Fraud Act (CDAFA) by accessing computer systems without the other party’s authorization. The suit notes that California doesn’t allow for the defense to argue that “artificial intelligence autonomously caused the harm to the plaintiff.” As Tyler Whitmer, founder and CEO of LASST, put it in a statement: “AI companies are building agents that act autonomously making decisions, taking actions, accessing systems, without human direction at every step. California law is very clear: companies cannot escape responsibility for what their agents do.” Fast Company has reached out to OpenAI for comment. “Gravity of the harm” LASST is also alleging that OpenAI is in …