ChatGPT maker OpenAI has been accused in a new lawsuit of practicing law without a U.S. license and helping a former disability claimant breach a settlement and flood a federal court docket with meritless filings, according to Reuters.
Nippon Life Insurance Company of America alleged Wednesday in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago that OpenAI improperly provided legal assistance to a woman who sought to reopen a lawsuit that had already been settled and dismissed, according to the wire service.
“ChatGPT is not an attorney,” the lawsuit said. Although OpenAI has demonstrated that ChatGPT can pass a bar exam, Nippon argued that “it has not been admitted to practice law in the State of Illinois or in any other jurisdiction within the United States.”
The suit seeks a court order declaring that OpenAI violated Illinois’ unauthorized practice of law statute, along with $300,000 in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.
OpenAI said in a statement Thursday that “this complaint lacks any merit whatsoever.”
A lawyer for Nippon, a subsidiary of the Japanese insurer Nissay, declined to comment.