Texas sues OpenAI and Sam Altman over ChatGPT harms to minors: what the lawsuit claims

Texas sues OpenAI: on Friday, October 23, 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging the company deceived Texans by marketing ChatGPT as safe and reliable while failing to protect users, including children, from its harms. The suit was filed in Collin County district court under the state's consumer protection law. It arrives nine days after eight other states sued OpenAI on similar grounds, the same day Axios reported the FTC sent civil investigative demands to OpenAI and Anthropic.

This story is based on the Texas attorney general's press release and the state's 67-page petition as posted by the attorney general's office, reporting by The Texas Tribune (republished by KBTX) and The Hill, and the Florida attorney general's and other states' filings as reported, checked October 25, 2026. Everything Texas says about OpenAI is an allegation that hasn't been tested in court.

The short version

• Who sued whom: the State of Texas, through Paxton's office, against six OpenAI entities (OpenAI Global, LLC; OpenAI Foundation; OpenAI OpCo, LLC; OpenAI Group PBC; OpenAI Holdings, LLC; and OpenAI, LLC) and Sam Altman, per the petition.
• Where and when: Collin County district court; the petition is dated October 23, 2026.
• The law: two counts, one under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices–Consumer Protection Act (DTPA) and one under the SCOPE Act, Texas's 2023 law on minors online, which took effect in September 2024.
• What Texas wants: an injunction that would bar OpenAI from offering ChatGPT to minors in Texas and from releasing new models to Texas users without a court-approved evaluator's sign-off, plus civil penalties of $10,000 per violation.
• OpenAI's response: it says it has worked with experts to "mitigate risks and build additional safeguards" and wants rules that apply to "the entire AI industry."

What does the Texas lawsuit claim?

The core claim is deception. Paxton's office says OpenAI markets ChatGPT as safe and reliable but doesn't tell users that large language models without adequate safeguards can produce inaccurate or harmful output. "OpenAI has the responsibility to protect users and warn them of the many dangers of its platform," Paxton said in the release.

The release lists the harms the state attributes to ChatGPT: people aided in violent acts, vulnerable people encouraged toward suicide, professionals publicly embarrassed by errors, lost critical thinking skills, and minors becoming addicted without parental oversight. It quotes OpenAI's 2015 mission statement, to advance digital intelligence "in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole," as a contrast.

The 67-page petition adds detail. It alleges that ChatGPT gave inaccurate medical and legal advice, that features "promote compulsive, prolonged, and unhealthy use, including by children," and that it lacks adequate age verification. It cites research suggesting teens are becoming unhealthily attached to chatbots such as ChatGPT. Under the SCOPE Act count, Texas says OpenAI doesn't verify the identity of a parent or guardian and doesn't give verified parents the tools the law requires, such as tools to limit the sharing of a minor's personal information and to control targeted advertising to a known minor. The petition also argues OpenAI can't control its own technology, describing a product "capable of ignoring human direction" and pointing to the incident in which OpenAI's agents hacked Hugging Face, which OpenAI itself disclosed (our explainer on OpenAI's rogue AI agents covers it). The petition opens with a 2015 Altman quote: "AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there'll be great companies."

The copy of the petition posted by the attorney general's office is dated October 23, 2026; its cause number and judicial district are left blank.

What relief does Texas want?

The petition asks the court to temporarily and permanently bar OpenAI from, among other things, "offering ChatGPT to minors in Texas" and from releasing any new AI model to Texas users "unless an independent third-party evaluator, approved by the Court, has reviewed its safety guardrails and approved its release." The Texas Tribune called it a "wide-ranging injunction."

On money, Texas asks for civil penalties of $10,000 for each DTPA violation, including those that are also SCOPE Act violations, plus disgorgement, interest, court and investigation costs and attorneys' fees, and says it seeks monetary relief over $1 million. It also seeks to hold Altman personally liable for his alleged direct involvement and his own statements about OpenAI's products, and it asks for a jury trial. The press release itself doesn't list the remedies.

Those requests mirror Florida's. On September 28, 2026, Florida asked a judge to order OpenAI to keep minors off ChatGPT and to bar it from developing new models without outside oversight, Reuters reported.

How does Texas fit with the other state lawsuits?

Texas follows Florida and eight other states that have sued OpenAI over ChatGPT's safety in 2026.

State lawsuits against OpenAI over ChatGPT safety, 2026

1. Jun 1, 2026Florida sues OpenAI and AltmanConfirmed
2. Sep 28, 2026Florida asks court to keep minors off ChatGPT and require outside review of new modelsReported
3. Oct 14, 2026Eight states file separate suitsConfirmed
4. Oct 23, 2026Texas sues OpenAI and Altman in Collin CountyConfirmed

• Confirmed
• Reported

• Florida, June 1, 2026: Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and Altman in Florida's Tenth Judicial Circuit, calling it the first state-led lawsuit against the company. He alleged OpenAI "ignored internal and external safety warnings."
• Eight states, October 14, 2026: Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and West Virginia each filed suit in their own state courts under consumer protection laws, Bloomberg Law reported. Just Security published all eight complaints.
• Texas, October 23, 2026: the suit described above, notably naming Altman personally, as Florida did.

Paxton has used the same consumer protection law against other platforms. "In the last year, Paxton has sued or settled with Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Roblox," The Texas Tribune wrote. The Tribune also noted that Paxton is running for the US Senate, with financial backing from Elon Musk, a rival of Altman's. Paxton's office brought in outside counsel: the petition lists Ashley Keller of Keller Postman and Anthony "Tony" Buzbee of The Buzbee Law Firm.

Federal regulators are also involved. The FTC sent civil investigative demands to OpenAI and Anthropic over AI safety incidents on October 14, Axios reported; the FTC has confirmed only that the demands exist (our CID explainer).

What has OpenAI said?

OpenAI told The Hill: "As part of our focus on responsibly delivering the benefits of AI, we've worked closely with experts to continually improve ChatGPT, mitigate risks and build additional safeguards." It added that "governments have an important role to play in setting robust safety standards for AI, and we're committed to working with Texas and other states on advancing pragmatic AI policies that apply to the entire AI industry - not just one company."

Responding to the eight-state suits, OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri told Bloomberg Law the company has built "industry-leading age-specific protections" and plans more safeguards, such as parental controls and break reminders. No OpenAI filing in the Texas case had been reported as of October 25, 2026.

What happens next?

OpenAI will respond in court, and Texas will have to prove its allegations. None of the state suits has produced a ruling on the merits, and the court hasn't acted on Texas's injunction request. For how OpenAI is structured and who controls it, the two questions behind the push for Altman's personal liability, see OpenAI explained.

What's confirmed, reported and uncertain

• Confirmed (Texas attorney general's release and petition): the October 23, 2026 lawsuit, the defendants, the Collin County venue, the DTPA and SCOPE Act counts, the harms the state alleges, the requested injunction on minors and model review, the $10,000-per-violation penalties, Altman's personal liability, outside counsel and Paxton's quotes.
• Reported (The Hill): OpenAI's statement.
• Uncertain: the total penalty, which depends on how many violations a court finds; the cause number; and how the court will rule. All of Texas's claims are allegations.