https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/florida-sues-openai-s...
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/florida-sues-openai-s...
Texas is leaning into becoming the manufacturing and R&D hub for the US, and is courting gigascale data centers and rolling out nuclear power, near-infinite solar, wind, and gas to power it as fast as possible.
Florida is leaning into the retired and populist factions of the GOP, banning data centers and taking on populist anti-tech positions that Texas wouldn't dare (because they want the investment).
Florida, at least for local Florida stuff, like what GP is talking about, has had R governor, senate, and house for 25+ years. With a supermajority R for most of that I think.
Either kids aren't actually being harmed, government regulation will cause more harm, or parents should parent their kids. Either way, nothing about the solution should involve me.
Parents are voters. One of the way they parent is by being civically active in their kids’ interest.
Throw away their TVs and minimize screen time at home[1].
Be responsible for the upbringing of their own children[2].
Learn how to be parents; the government shouldn't force companies to do parenting instead[3].
Not have had children in the first place[4].
Be the ones responsible for parenting their own children[5].
Actually parent their kids and not rely on the government to nanny them[6].
Get to decide what content their children, then like me, you would oppose any kind of legislation with this goal in mind[7].
I could go on. My point is that HN has a long tradition of distrusting regulation especially when it comes to parenting. I have no problem acting as a lightning rod for that arugment.
1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48182101
2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48074072
3. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48072708
4. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48069884
5. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47818303
It is probably not true that ChatGPT has resulted in an increase in murders and suicides, and certainly it would be very difficult to prove liability on OpenAI for this. It reminds me of the campaign in the 90s against video game manufacturers for "corrupting the youth".
But I also don't think they expect to win. They just want to show that they're doing something to fight tech companies and AI.
My understanding is that OpenAI products specifically provided help in planning attacks / self harm.
The way I see it, providing general information is not a crime. They're basically saying: "Oh no! My repository of all human knowledge contains all human knowledge! It must be defective!"
Edit: why vote this down? It’s part of a discussion. This isn’t Reddit.
Reverend Doctor Robert Evans had a few episodes on Behind the Bastards this last month about how AI chatbots seem to sometimes create cult-like dynamics with their users. I don't know how this argument will fare in court, but I don't know if this is necessarily wrong.
aiding and abetting violence: books on the topic since the 5th century BCE
economic disruption: like the printing press
copyright theft: printing tech also makes that far easier
displaces creativity: this was Socrates' objection to reading and writing
misinformation: both techs turbocharge all info, correct or not
environmental impact: e.g. deforestation
amplifies bias: this is a common purpose of writing things down
atrophy of skills: Socrates said reading would damage memory skills
concentration of power: writing was tightly controlled by powerful interests for their leverage and protection
Unless you also want to roll back writing and reading, the starting point for critiques of AI should be the differences in threat between it and writing. A difference in magnitude is a minimum. If you also think that writing was a mistake, I honor your consistency.Why? Like, people doing fraud is an instance of the written and spoken word. That doesn’t mean every argument against fraudsters should be leveled against speech.
So has toothpaste. I’m really not seeing the argument for treating AI as writing in general.
If so, would this program also open me up to liability in Florida?
const platitudes = ['Good point!', 'You're absolutely right.', 'I agree, let's explore this idea further.', 'This plan is a good idea'];
var prompt;
var response = "Hello, AI here, how can I help you?";
while (true) {
prompt = window.prompt(response);
response = platitudes[Math.floor(Math.random() * platitudes.length)];
}Guns are explicitly exempted from liability rules. They’re the exception that proves the rule.
If it goes anywhere at all, it'll likely just result in a settlement paid to the government and a consent decree mandating well-intended, nice-sounding yet vague rules which just become another compliance cost for leaders, barrier for emerging competitors and otherwise accomplish little of value for citizens. It's also unproductive because it tends to polarize a complex, nuanced and evolving technical issue toward extremes by hijacking it as fodder for existing political and even culture war battles.
While some bad things have certainly happened, proving direct liability under reckless endangerment in court, especially in an area so new, will be virtually impossible. Even willful negligence will be a stretch. This is neither the venue nor instrument of governance we as a society should be using to address these issues. And an attorney general should know that.
I don't see the state's involvement in that
Becoming? This has been true for decades in the urban areas
Source? It’s been an open secret in academia and medicine that professors [1] and doctors [2] are fleeing Texas’s political climate.
[1] https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/05/texas-faculty-univer...
[2] https://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/08/Texas-obstetrics-gyn...
I was just in New York. NYU has been recruiting Texas robotics professors. Political volatility and funding cuts for research aren’t exactly fertile ground for an advanced economy.
Right after Covid, both Texas and Florida saw a huge influx of talent. That seems to have stabilized (and caused a political backlash), with both retaining advantages, but Texas retreating back to energy and Florida to tourism. (They both have token tech scenes, with Austin holding ground against Boston and Seattle.)
For example, you can look at the housing crises in most CA cities brought on by NIMBY liberal policies, and while Austin is still very expensive, they (IMO) took the only sane approach to skyrocketing housing costs by actually building a shit ton of housing over the past few years. Austin passed a plastic bag ban a while back that was eventually overturned by the state legislature, but in the meantime a lot of people still bring their own reusable bags (stores can still charge for bags) and I've noticed much less bag pollution in creaks and streams compared to 15 years ago.
Of course, it remains to be seen what happens in the near future. The Republican party in TX is now fully showing their complete moral bankruptcy by nominating the criminal Ken Paxton for Senate, so we'll see if they fall further down the personality cult or if they eventually break.
This is true in Georgia as well. There has generally been a productive working relationship between the Democratic mayor in Atlanta and the typically republican/conservative democrat governor. That includes Kemp and Dinkins today. Back in 2017, former Mayor Shirley Franklin--who was very popular and highly effective--endorsed independent Mary Norwood for mayor over democrat Keisha Lance-Bottoms.
And in DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser works very well with Trump. They have a common interest in cleanliness and order. She’s done a great job of renovating major parks, cleaning up homeless encampments, cooperating with ICE, and making much needed progress on construction projects. But she gets a ton of flak from her party for working with Trump instead of engaging in resistance antics.
Source? (Not doubting. But I’m finding conflicting figures.)
Sure. HN is also filled with folks who don’t vote or believe in calling their electeds. Parenting has collective-responsibility elements. I’m not saying I support this instance of it. But in general, the argument that parenting has to be a solely individual responsibility while tech companies pillage our youth is a flawed pitch. (My personal view on this balance flipped with social media.)
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathological_demand_avoidance
We’re already seeing section 230 protections being defeated in court for targeted feeds, now add itemized instructions on committing felony’s at scale personalized. Hahahahaha. Hope they IPO quickly.
And they never would be without the lawsuits, so, I don’t feel bad for OpenAI. All of big tech needs a kick in the ass on transparency.
The law doesn’t work like that.
So yes. It is generally legal to provide information about making drugs, bombs, or guns.
I mean, back when Constitutional law meant anything to the government, of course. Nowadays who knows.
I’m no lawyer though so maybe potato po-kill your spouse with a claw hammer-tato. They do sound very similar. Please tell me more.
In all the cases I've seen, the user seemed highly motivated to kill themselves and spent a lot of time trying to push past guardrails, ignoring repeated messages to seek help.
Did you follow up on that by looking for any money links between Musk and this AG?
I’ve fired guns. Never to kill things. I’ve also used chat bots to be entirely useless. I wouldn’t endorse this dichotomy of purpose as a basis for any judgement.
Of course you can. AI has been deployed in multiple military campaigns.
guns were purpose-designed as killing machines, the fact that you can also shoot targets with them doesn't really change that... it's no mistake that many common paper targets are human or animal shaped
you could also shoot targets all the same with something designed to be non-lethal
whatever the justification, buying a gun carries on the behavior that has resulted in pretty much the most widespread trades of a lethal device in history... small arms trade worldwide is absolutely brutal
Probably the only response stupider than "Nothing could have prevented this" is "Random thing, other than the mental state of the murderer and the access to firearms, caused this."
tim-tday•2h ago