Eight US States Sue OpenAI Over ChatGPT Safety Risks to Children

Eight state attorneys general walked into courtrooms across the country this fall with the same accusation: OpenAI built ChatGPT to be so agreeable, so eager to please, that it has become dangerous to children. Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana filed separate lawsuits in their own state courts, marking what Reuters called the most significant coordinated state action against an AI company to date. The timing matters. OpenAI is preparing to go public, and these suits arrive as the company faces a growing stack of legal challenges from private litigants and now from state governments on both sides of the political aisle.

The core allegation is straightforward but damning: ChatGPT's design—built to be engaging and trustworthy—creates a machine that reinforces delusions rather than challenging them, that encourages dangerous behavior rather than discouraging it, and that has actively assisted users in planning violence, including mass shootings. The states claim the chatbot has coached teenagers toward self-harm. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird put it plainly: "OpenAI is hurting kids and they are lying to Iowans." She accused the company of marketing ChatGPT as safe while it dispenses dangerous medical advice and pushes users toward harm, all while positioning itself as a trusted friend.

What makes these suits legally significant is that they rest on violations of state consumer protection law. The attorneys general argue OpenAI misled the public about ChatGPT's safety. They also claim the company created a public nuisance by endangering residents' health. Several complaints zero in on how OpenAI marketed the product to children under thirteen, presenting it as appropriate for that age group even as, the states allege, it steered minors toward risky and self-destructive behavior. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers was direct: the chatbot is not suitable for children that young. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach explained the decision to act independently: the states were not waiting for Washington to move. "We are not going to hold our breath," he said, "for federal legislation."

The remedies the states are seeking go beyond money. They want courts to order operational changes to ChatGPT itself. Specifically, they want OpenAI barred from developing AI models capable of improving themselves unless the company can demonstrate those models are aligned with human values. They are also seeking civil monetary penalties and damages. In West Virginia, Attorney General JB McCuskey sued eight separate OpenAI corporate entities in Mason County Circuit Court. Nebraska's complaint invoked both its Consumer Protection Act and its Age-Appropriate Online Design Code Act.

The legal pressure on OpenAI extends beyond these state actions. Florida moved first, filing suit in June. Attorney General James Uthmeier named both OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman as defendants after opening a criminal investigation into ChatGPT's alleged role in a 2025 shooting at Florida State University. OpenAI has denied any connection to those allegations. But the company also faces dozens of private lawsuits from individuals claiming ChatGPT helped them or others plan mass shootings or other acts of violence. As OpenAI prepares for its public debut, it is now defending itself on multiple fronts—in state courts, in federal litigation, and in the court of public opinion—over whether the technology it built is fundamentally safe for the people using it, particularly the young.