Key points:
- A Georgia judge dismissed a lawsuit against OpenAI over false information generated by ChatGPT.
- The plaintiff, radio host Mark Walters, failed to prove actual malice or negligence.
- The ruling marks an early legal victory for AI developers facing liability claims over model hallucinations.
OpenAI has won a closely watched lawsuit in Georgia that tested the legal risks posed by artificial intelligence-generated misinformation. Judge Tracie Cason of Gwinnett County Superior Court dismissed radio host Mark Walters’ defamation case, ruling that Walters had not shown OpenAI acted with negligence or “actual malice” when its ChatGPT tool generated false statements about him in response to a third-party query.
Walters, a pro-gun rights commentator, filed suit in 2023 after a reporter from AmmoLand.com asked ChatGPT about gun-related litigation and received a response falsely describing Walters as a defendant in a fictional sexual harassment case. The reporter later determined the case was entirely fabricated and did not publish the claims. Nonetheless, Walters alleged that ChatGPT’s response was “obviously defamatory” and accused OpenAI of knowingly distributing falsehoods through its product.
In her opinion, Judge Cason rejected that argument, emphasizing that OpenAI had issued extensive disclaimers about ChatGPT’s limitations and made “industry-leading efforts” to reduce hallucinations. “OpenAI's extensive warnings to users that errors of this kind could occur negate any possibility that a jury could find OpenAI acted with actual malice here,” the judge wrote, according to Reuters.
The ruling represents a significant early victory for generative AI developers, as courts begin to address the liability landscape for AI-generated falsehoods. The legal standard for defamation requires that the publisher of the statement acted either negligently or with actual malice—something Walters failed to prove, the court concluded.
OpenAI, represented by Theodore Boutrous Jr. of Gibson Dunn and Matthew Macdonald of Wilson Sonsini, welcomed the court’s decision. “We appreciate the judge's careful decision and its findings about our efforts to responsibly educate users and improve our models,” the company said in a statement.
Walters’ attorney, John Monroe, said Monday that his team was reviewing the court’s ruling. The case, Walters v. OpenAI LLC, No. 23-A-04860-2, was heard in Gwinnett County Superior Court in Georgia.
