AI Safety

10 States Have Sued OpenAI: What Parents Should Know

6 min read · Updated October 24, 2026

On October 23, 2026, Texas sued OpenAI and asked a court to stop ChatGPT being offered to minors in the state. That follows suits from eight states on October 14 and Florida in June: ten states in all. None of it has been proven in court, and cases like these take years. The useful step now is a calm conversation with your teen about which AI apps they use and what for.

If you saw the headline and wondered whether you should take ChatGPT off your teen’s phone tonight, take a breath. A lawsuit is the start of a long process, not a verdict. This guide explains what was filed, what each side says, and a few practical things you can do this week that will help whatever the courts eventually decide. Every other app’s minimum age is in AI chatbot age limits.

What happened

On October 14, 2026, the attorneys general of Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and West Virginia filed separate suits against OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT. Each state filed in its own state court rather than joining one national case.

They were not the first. Florida filed its own suit against OpenAI in June 2026.

On October 23, 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, in a state court in Collin County. Texas is the ninth state to sue since October 14, and the tenth to take OpenAI to court over how ChatGPT treats its users.

An attorney general is a state’s top lawyer. Part of the job is enforcing consumer protection laws, which is why suits like these usually focus on what a company told the public and whether it matched what the product did.

What Texas is asking for

Texas brings its claims under the state’s consumer protection law and its Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, which sets rules for minors’ data and for parents’ control over their children’s accounts. The petition alleges that the free version of ChatGPT has no age verification, that linking a parent’s account is optional, and that OpenAI has not given parents the controls the SCOPE Act requires.

Among other things, it asks the court to order OpenAI to stop:

• Offering ChatGPT to minors in Texas.
• Offering a product with content unsuitable for children without adequate age verification.
• Releasing any new AI model to Texas users until an independent evaluator approved by the court has reviewed its safety guardrails.

It also asks for civil penalties of $10,000 for each violation and for the disgorgement of OpenAI’s assets. These are requests, not rulings. Nothing changes for families in Texas unless a judge orders it.

What the states claim

The details differ from state to state, but the main allegations line up. The states allege that:

• ChatGPT was marketed as safe while giving dangerous advice and encouraging self-harm.
• It is built to be agreeable and keep users engaged.
• OpenAI misled parents about its safety.

The states are asking the courts for court-ordered changes to how ChatGPT works, civil penalties and damages. These are claims a state makes when it files a case. None of this has been proven in court, and OpenAI will have its chance to respond to each one.

The point about being agreeable is worth a moment for any parent. A chatbot that tends to go along with what it is told can feel supportive, but it is not the same as a trusted adult who will gently push back. That is true whatever happens in these cases.

What OpenAI says

OpenAI says it has built age-specific protections into ChatGPT and is working with states on rules that would apply across the whole industry, not just to one company. ChatGPT also has parental controls a parent can link to a teen’s account. Parental controls for ChatGPT walks through what they do and what they do not cover. Other AI apps have their own settings, compared in parental controls in every AI app.

Responding to the Texas suit, an OpenAI spokesperson told The Texas Tribune that the company has worked with experts to mitigate risks and build additional safeguards, and that governments have an important role to play in setting safety standards for AI.

What this means for your family

Cases like these take years. There will be motions, possibly settlements, and possibly appeals before anything is settled for good. Whatever changes come out of them may arrive long after your teen has finished school.

Meanwhile, teens use AI today. Many use it for homework, for ideas, for advice and sometimes just for company. The lawsuits do not change what your teen does this evening. What can change it is a parent who knows which apps are in use and has an easy, open line for talking about them.

It also helps to remember that ChatGPT is one app among many. Gemini, Claude, Meta AI, Grok and companion apps such as Character.AI raise similar questions. AI apps parents should know gives a short tour.

4 things you can do this week

1. Ask which AI apps they use. Keep it a simple question, not a quiz. Many teens use more than one, including AI built into apps they already have.
2. Ask what they use them for. Homework help, writing, coding, questions they feel awkward asking a person, or just chatting. The answer tells you far more than the app’s name does.
3. Keep it curious, not a crackdown. A teen who expects a punishment learns to hide things. A teen who expects a conversation is more likely to come to you when something feels off.
4. Agree together on what you’ll be able to see and why. Be clear about what you can check, whether that is ChatGPT’s parental controls, device settings or another tool, and explain your reason. Openness builds more trust than quiet checking.

For more ideas, see how to talk to your teen about AI and family AI rules.

Where TeenCue fits

If you want a simple view of how AI fits into your teen’s week, TeenCue works in Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Brave on a computer. For each AI chat it records a category, a topic and a concern rating, never what was typed. You can see the demo to judge whether it suits your family.