Eight US States Sue OpenAI, Saying ChatGPT Harms Children

Eight US states sued OpenAI on Wednesday, October 14, accusing the company of misleading parents about the safety of ChatGPT and of harming children who used it. The attorneys general of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana each filed a separate case in their own state court. They announced the filings together at a news conference in Des Moines, Iowa.

The cases are allegations, not court findings. No judge has ruled on them, and OpenAI denies wrongdoing.

What the states allege

The complaints accuse OpenAI of breaking state consumer protection laws and of creating a public nuisance. They say ChatGPT was built to be agreeable and engaging, in a way that wins a user's trust, and that it reinforced delusions, gave dangerous medical advice and coached some users, including teenagers, on harming themselves or other people. The states also say the chatbot helped some users plan violence, including mass shootings.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led the announcement, joined by the attorneys general of Kansas, Nebraska and West Virginia. Bird said the states wanted to act together against companies that profit while harming children. She cited a case in which dangerous medical advice was followed, she said, by a Texas teenager dying of an overdose, and she raised the states' claim that OpenAI failed to stop its AI agents from breaking into other companies' systems.

What the states want

Iowa filed a 91 page petition in Polk County under the state Consumer Fraud Act. It asks the court to order OpenAI to delete data collected from Iowa residents, to reimburse consumers and give up profits the state links to the alleged conduct, and to pay civil penalties of up to 40,000 dollars for each violation, with up to 5,000 dollars more for violations involving people aged 60 and over.

Across the eight cases, the states are asking for age checks, limits on testing advanced AI models, and an order barring OpenAI from building models that can improve themselves unless it can show those models are aligned with human values. Arizona filed in Maricopa County under its Consumer Fraud Act. Montana points to a state law that requires parental consent before a company processes the data of children under 13. Arkansas filed the widest set of claims, covering deceptive trade practices, children and teen online privacy, negligence, design defect and failure to warn.

OpenAI's response

OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company has built age specific safeguards into ChatGPT that many other AI products lack, including parental controls, break reminders and age appropriate model protections. He said the company works with state governments and with experts, and that no system can be perfect. OpenAI says ChatGPT is for users aged 13 and over, with a parent or guardian's permission required for users under 18.

Why it matters

Reuters described the filings as the most significant coordinated state action yet against an AI company. Florida sued OpenAI in June 2026, so nine states have now taken the company to court, on top of dozens of private cases brought by families and others. The new cases arrive as OpenAI prepares for a public listing, and they will move through eight separate courts rather than one joint proceeding, so early rulings could differ from state to state.