Eight states sued OpenAI on Wednesday, accusing the company of deceiving parents about the safety of its ChatGPT chatbot, NBC News and CNBC reported.

Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana each filed a lawsuit in their own state courts, CNBC reported. The suits are brought under each state's consumer protection laws, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said, NBC News reported. In a news release, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin's office said Utah also filed a similar suit.

"OpenAI is hurting kids and they are lying to Iowans," Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement, CNBC reported. "OpenAI claims ChatGPT is safe while it's giving dangerous medical advice, encouraging people to hurt others, and coaching people to commit suicide — all while pretending to be their fake friend."

The suits allege that ChatGPT's overly agreeable design has led people to trust and depend on it, NBC News reported. That makes it especially "dangerous" for children and other vulnerable users, the suits say.

Arkansas is seeking an injunction, restitution for consumers and civil penalties, the state's release said. It also wants OpenAI to clearly disclose the material risks of ChatGPT.

Kobach said Congress has not reined in AI companies. "We certainly invite Congress and state legislators to keep investigating, keep looking for solutions. But in the meantime, we are not going to hold our breath," he said, NBC News reported.

OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company has built age-specific protections into its product that "many other AI products lack," CNBC reported. "While no system can be perfect, we'll continue to work with experts to inform our work and build additional safeguards, such as the parental controls, break reminders and age-appropriate model protections that exist today," he said.

OpenAI already faces wrongful death lawsuits that blame ChatGPT for harmful delusions and suicides, CNBC reported. Florida's attorney general sued the company in June, CNBC said. A proposed class action filed Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco accuses OpenAI of taking data from millions of children who used ChatGPT, NBC News reported.

What we know: Eight states filed separate consumer protection suits against OpenAI on Wednesday.
What we don't: How OpenAI will respond in court and whether more states will join.