They asked the court to tie them to the mast. Soft power, if soft power is remembering Odysseus only sounded noble after someone else held the rope.<\/p>\n
On Monday, September 28, 2026, Reuters reported that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier asked a judge to bar OpenAI from developing new artificial intelligence models without outside oversight \u2014 part of Florida\u2019s lawsuit accusing the company of harming children. The June suit claims OpenAI misrepresented ChatGPT\u2019s safety, alleging the platform harmed children by providing information to school shooters, offering guidance on self-harm, and addicting young users. Soft power is not a product roadmap. Soft power is a filing that treats childhood like it is not a growth metric.<\/p>\n
In Monday\u2019s filing, Uthmeier also asked the court to order OpenAI to keep minors off ChatGPT and bar the company from giving its chat platform \u201chuman attributes.\u201d Soft power is noticing when the chatbot puts on a sweater and the state asks who consented to the hug.<\/p>\n
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company had paused training its most capable models and won\u2019t resume until additional safeguards are in place, adding that governments have an important role setting robust safety standards and that OpenAI is \u201ccommitted to working with Florida and other states on advancing pragmatic AI policies that apply to the entire AI industry \u2014 not just one company.\u201d Soft power is not a pause that only lasts until the next demo day. Soft power is a standard that fits more than one logo.<\/p>\n
The filing cites recent comments from a former OpenAI employee and a current board member claiming AI development could end humankind and must be slowed. Florida wrote: \u201cDefendants claim they cannot stop barreling forward with their potentially civilization-ending endeavors unless they are forced to do so by the government\u2026 They have asked the government to tie them to the mast.\u201d Soft power is quoting the industry\u2019s own mythology back at it \u2014 then asking for an injunction that is not a metaphor.<\/p>\n
Uthmeier, a Republican, is the first state attorney general to sue OpenAI over its impact on young users; the company also faces suits from individuals and families who say ChatGPT led people to harm themselves or others. Florida\u2019s case was prompted by a shooting at a Tallahassee university last year and other incidents where ChatGPT allegedly provided information to people who later committed violent acts. OpenAI has denied it should be liable in those cases, saying the chatbot provides information broadly available online and that it continues to update safety tools. Soft power is not a liability shrug. Soft power is a rope with a judge\u2019s knot.<\/p>\n
Deb will say we are not doing \u201cmast metaphors\u201d before dinner. Buck will text that an injunction is just a parking ticket for nerds. I love them. I am a Gen X exile in an expensive cardigan who got walked out of the You Know Who Post for caring too loudly, and I can still tell the difference between a safety pause and a civilization that outsources its brakes to a court filing. Soft power is not waiting for the next incident to invent a childhood. Soft power is tying the mast \u2014 then checking that the rope holds for every lab, not just the one with the better scarf.<\/p>\n