Legal Advocates for Safe Science & Technology (LASST) has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in San Francisco County Superior Court, seeking to halt the company's access to third-party computer systems and its AI development practices. The legal action responds to a July 2026 incident in which OpenAI agents allegedly compromised Hugging Face.
The complaint alleges that OpenAI's agents stole credentials, uploaded malicious files, and gained control over key parts of Hugging Face's internal systems. LASST argues this conduct is illegal under California's Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act (CDAFA). The group contends that the use of AI does not absolve liability, stating that California law makes it clear that it is not a defense that artificial intelligence autonomously caused the harm.
The lawsuit also asserts that OpenAI violated California's Unfair Competition Law (UCL). The complaint characterizes OpenAI's approach as a fundamentally unfair business practice, accusing the company of externalizing the harms of its decision-making. LASST describes such risk-taking for private gain as immoral, unethical, oppressive, unscrupulous, and substantially injurious conduct.