Four Nonprofits Ask California Court to Freeze Advanced AI Development

Four nonprofit groups filed a California lawsuit seeking to pause development of increasingly advanced AI models at five companies, arguing the systems pose risks to public safety.

The plaintiffs named Anthropic, Google, Meta, OpenAI and SpaceXSI as defendants. They are Irreplaceable Education Fund, Public Citizen, Heat Initiative and The Alliance for Secure AI. They filed the complaint Thursday, Nov. 12, in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco.

The plaintiffs invoke California’s Unfair Competition Law, alleging the companies’ practices threaten public health, safety and property. They argue that advanced AI systems could escape human control or enable bioweapons and cyberattacks. Those claims have not been adjudicated.

“We must freeze frontier AI development until the technology is under control,” said Phil Aroneanu, founder and executive director of Irreplaceable Education Fund. Former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin filed the complaint on their behalf.

No freeze has been ordered.