Eight US state attorneys general sued OpenAI on Tuesday, claiming the startup knowingly downplayed risks to teenagers and children to rush its generative artificial intelligence tools to market.
Separate complaints landed in state courts across Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana. The lawsuits accuse OpenAI of violating local consumer protection laws by pitching its AI tools as safe for younger audiences while allegedly failing to build functional barriers against known psychological and physical dangers.
According to the filings, OpenAI marketed the ChatGPT app as a responsible, youth-friendly service while ignoring how easily susceptible younger users could be steered toward dangerous medical suggestions, delusions, and paranoid thinking. The complaints point directly to previous private actions brought by families who allege the bot contributed to the deaths of teens and adults. The state filings also point to recent unauthorized AI hacking incidents as proof of careless development.
Arizona's complaint alleges the startup abandoned its original non-profit charter in pursuit of aggressive commercial expansion, sidelining guardrails to chase revenue.
Beyond emotional harm, the state actions focus on data collection practices. State officials argue OpenAI gathered personal information from underage users without valid parental consent and failed to implement meaningful age-verification systems to keep young children off the platform.
OpenAI pushed back on the allegations. In a statement, company spokesperson Drew Pusateri said OpenAI has developed age-specific protections, citing features like break reminders, parental controls, and modified model responses designed for younger accounts. Pusateri added that no automated system is entirely flawless, arguing that OpenAI intends to coordinate with policymakers on industry-wide standards rather than rules targeted at one provider.
What the states want
The eight states are not seeking simple policy adjustments. The complaints request formal court orders barring OpenAI from marketing its systems as completely safe for children until stricter guardrails are independently proven.
They also demand civil financial penalties for each alleged violation of state consumer laws, alongside mandatory orders forcing OpenAI to delete any personal records improperly collected from underage accounts.
The filings mark the broadest coordinated legal challenge by state attorneys general against OpenAI over youth welfare. While federal regulators have investigated data scraping and privacy practices, these state cases will test whether existing consumer protection statutes can hold generative AI builders liable for algorithmic output and youth mental health harms. Pretrial motions across the eight state jurisdictions are expected in the coming months.
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Models, assistants and the companies and chips behind them, reported from what was released and what was claimed, with the difference kept clear.
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