Eight US states sue OpenAI over youth safety concerns

Eight US states have filed legal complaints against OpenAI, accusing the company of harming children and misleading users about the safety of its ChatGPT service, according to The Verge AI and Reuters. The legal filings maintain that OpenAI placed financial gain ahead of public safety during the development of its product, according to reports from The Verge AI, The Guardian, and Reuters. [1][2][3][4]

The individual lawsuits were filed separately by state officials in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana, according to The Verge AI. The legal claims assert that OpenAI breached local consumer protection statutes by omitting necessary warnings regarding potential risks associated with the application, The Verge AI reported. [1][4]

The legal action comes after OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022, an event credited with accelerating the wider generative artificial intelligence industry. The San Francisco based organization operates as a public benefit corporation and develops large language models including its generative pre-trained transformer series. [8]

The company previously raised private capital reaching a post-money valuation of more than 850 billion dollars in early 2026. OpenAI has faced ongoing scrutiny regarding its corporate governance and safety practices as its products expanded to hundreds of millions of active users. [8][10]