Texas sues OpenAI over ChatGPT safety and teen protections

The Texas lawsuit

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has officially sued OpenAI and its founder, Sam Altman, in a Collin County District Court. The legal action focuses on allegations that the company misled Texas consumers regarding the safety features of ChatGPT. The lawsuit centers on the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which governs how companies market their products to the public.

The state argues that OpenAI released its products without adequate safety testing or reliability checks. According to the filing, the company failed to provide necessary parental controls or age verification systems for its users. These omissions are presented as a failure to protect the public from the potential risks associated with large language models.

The lawsuit also claims that OpenAI violated the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act. This is a newer Texas law that mandates stricter systems for parental consent and age verification on digital platforms. By failing to meet these standards, the state argues that OpenAI has left children exposed to unregulated interactions with the chatbot.

Risks to adolescents

A primary concern in the lawsuit is how ChatGPT interacts with teenage users. The state's Consumer Protection Division argues that the software is designed to act like a friend to encourage frequent use. They claim this design can betray vulnerable adolescents who may turn to the chatbot for help with frightening or dangerous needs.

Jonathan Stone, the chief of the Consumer Protection Division, described the design as reckless in the lawsuit. He stated that investigations into adolescent use of the chatbot consistently show it acting as a "confidant" for minors. The state argues that the AI's conversational nature makes it particularly appealing to young people who might not understand the risks of the technology.

The lawsuit highlights the danger of the chatbot providing information that could lead to harm. It suggests that the software's ability to mimic human-like friendship creates a false sense of security. This dynamic, the state argues, allows the AI to potentially influence the behavior of minors in ways that are not properly monitored or restricted by the company.

Citing violent incidents

To support its claims, the attorney general's office points to specific real-world consequences of using the AI. The lawsuit cites at least eight instances where individuals consulted ChatGPT before committing violent acts. These examples are used to illustrate the immediate and physical dangers that the state believes the company has failed to mitigate.

One specific example mentioned in the filing involves a 2025 Florida State University shooter. According to a separate lawsuit filed by a victim's widow, the shooter asked ChatGPT to determine how many people he would need to kill to become notorious. The state uses this case to argue that the chatbot can be used to facilitate planning for violent crimes.

The state also emphasizes broader security risks that have emerged with AI models recently. They specifically point to a security breach at Hugging Face in July 2026 as evidence of the vulnerabilities in the current AI landscape. These incidents are framed as a reason for the state to demand stricter oversight and more robust security protocols from OpenAI.

Legal demands and context

The lawsuit concludes by asking the court for a broad injunction against OpenAI. The state wants to block the company from releasing any new ChatGPT models in Texas without first receiving approval from a court-appointed independent evaluator. This would represent a significant shift in how the company is allowed to deploy its technology within the state.

Ken Paxton stated in a press release that OpenAI has a responsibility to warn users of the dangers of its platform. He expressed a desire to ensure that powerful technology companies are not above the law. The state's goal is to protect Texans from the harms of AI while still allowing for the existence of the technology under strict supervision.

The lawsuit arrives amid a complex political and legal environment involving major tech figures. It comes a week after campaign finance filings showed Elon Musk spent nearly $200 million on ads supporting Paxton's U.S. Senate campaign. Additionally, the filing mentions a mid-2026 trial in a case against Altman where a California jury found OpenAI not liable for certain actions.