Eight States Sue OpenAI Over ChatGPT Child Safety Failures

Quick Facts

• Eight state attorneys general filed separate lawsuits against OpenAI on Oct. 14, 2026, alleging ChatGPT poses serious risks to children.
• A parallel federal class action filed Oct. 13 accuses OpenAI of harvesting minors' data without valid consent to train its large language models.
• OpenAI says it has already built age-specific protections into ChatGPT that many competing AI products lack.

Eight U.S. states sued OpenAI on Oct. 14, accusing the company of marketing an unsafe product and deceiving parents about the risks ChatGPT poses to children. Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana each filed under their own state consumer protection laws rather than joining a single federal case, according to reporting on the coordinated action.

The lawsuits share a core argument: OpenAI knew its chatbot carried risks for minors but promoted it as safe anyway. Iowa AG Brenna Bird said the company "advanced ChatGPT at a high speed, even though they knew that they were hurting children, lying to parents and breaking our laws."

What the Complaints Allege

The states accuse OpenAI of designing ChatGPT to be "overly agreeable" and "uniquely sycophantic," mimicking human compassion to keep users, including children, engaged longer. Nebraska AG Mike Hilgers said those flaws had contributed to suicide, violence, and other real-world harm.

West Virginia AG J.B. McCuskey pointed to a lack of basic guardrails. McCuskey said "there is no age verification and there are no guardrails for conversations about suicides, school shootings, or self-harm." Arizona's 87-page complaint alleges ChatGPT gave minors dangerous medical guidance, encouraged delusional thinking, and promoted unhealthy relationships.

Arizona AG Kris Mayes said OpenAI "failed to implement adequate user protections or transparency measures, despite clear indications that minors were regularly interacting with its chatbot."

A Separate Federal Class Action

One day before the state filings, a proposed class action was filed in California federal court in Doe v. OpenAI Foundation. The complaint alleges OpenAI extracted "vast amounts of highly sensitive and valuable data" from millions of young users without valid consent and fed that data into its large language model training pipeline.

The filing describes a 12-year-old girl who began using ChatGPT in February 2026. She asked the chatbot about her weight and diet, and ChatGPT continued that conversation even after she disclosed her age. The plaintiffs argue OpenAI never held a valid agreement with the children who used the product.

What the States Want

The attorneys general are seeking financial penalties, consumer compensation, and court orders requiring OpenAI to strengthen safeguards. Arizona's suit asks the court to impose a $10,000 fine for every instance of false or deceptive advertising. Montana is suing under the Montana Consumer Protection Act and Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act to force OpenAI to halt what it calls dangerous conduct.

Kansas AG Kris Kobach said the states "are not going to hold our breath" waiting for federal AI rules. The bipartisan group chose the state-by-state route specifically to move without congressional action.

OpenAI's Response and Recent Safety Moves

OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri pushed back on the complaints, saying the company has integrated age-specific protections that "many other AI products lack." He added: "While no system can be perfect, we'll continue to work with experts to inform our work and build additional safeguards, such as the parental controls, break reminders and age-appropriate model protections that exist today."

In September 2026, OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Teens, a product aimed at users aged 13 to 17 that includes parental controls, safety guardrails, and a study mode. The company described the rollout as a response to scrutiny over teen safety. Critics argue the feature came after the harms the lawsuits now describe had already occurred.

Florida AG James Uthmeier filed his own separate lawsuit earlier in 2026 and has sought an injunction to stop OpenAI from developing its technology while that case proceeds. The eight October lawsuits bring the total number of state-level actions against OpenAI on child safety grounds to at least nine.