Eight states sue OpenAI, saying ChatGPT isn’t safe for kids

Eight US states sued OpenAI in separate cases, accusing the company of harming children and misleading customers about the safety of ChatGPT. Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana allege that OpenAI unlawfully put profits over safety when developing the chatbot and violated local consumer protection laws by failing to warn customers. The Verge's report, by Emma Roth and published at 9:11 p.m. UTC on October 14, 2026, says OpenAI is accused of misleading the public and of putting everyone at risk. Reuters reported the filings earlier.

This piece is for parents, customers, and ChatGPT users who want the allegations, the safeguards OpenAI names, and the court orders. It covers what the eight complaints assert, how the states describe the harm, why the cases are before judges, who they reach, and the remedies sought. The states seek civil penalties, an end to misleading claims about ChatGPT's safety, and, in some cases, deletion of personal data.

Eight states: what actually changed

The complaints are a new wave of separate lawsuits, not one merged case. Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana each accuse OpenAI of harming children and misleading customers about ChatGPT. They say the company violated local consumer protection laws by failing to warn people about the chatbot's dangers, and that it unlawfully put profits over safety while developing ChatGPT. An October 14 update to the story added OpenAI's emailed statement the same day the report ran.

The states aim the cases at the way OpenAI described the product. They allege the company misleadingly presented ChatGPT as a "safe, youth-appropriate tool that puts safety first," when it was "dangerous to vulnerable users." The complaints cite several lawsuits filed by family members of teens and adults. Those relatives allege the AI chatbot played a role in their loved ones' deaths. The states cite those cases while accusing OpenAI of failing to warn customers about the dangers of ChatGPT.

Eight states: how it works

The complaints list the dangers they say customers were not warned about. They allege ChatGPT harmed vulnerable users by "degrading critical thinking skills, encouraging paranoias and delusions, offering dangerous medical advice, and promoting unhealthy behaviors and relationships." Those claims sit with the family lawsuits in which relatives of teens and adults say the chatbot played a role in deaths. The consumer-protection theory is that OpenAI kept describing the bot as a tool that "puts safety first" and did not disclose those risks to customers.

Arizona's lawsuit states the profit charge this way: "OpenAI has devolved from its original mission as a public-first nonprofit that prioritized safety into a cautionary tale about what can happen when the development of a tool as powerful as AI is driven not by safety, but by a profit-at-all-costs mindset that sidelines essential safeguards." The states also accuse OpenAI of collecting data from minors and of not doing enough to keep underage users from using the chatbot. They cite recent rogue AI hacking incidents as evidence of alleged "recklessness."

Eight states: why it matters now

The states are asking the courts to force OpenAI to pay a series of civil penalties and to stop misleading the public about the safety of ChatGPT. Some states are also seeking the deletion of unlawfully collected personal data. The eight cases proceed separately under local consumer protection laws in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana. Arizona's complaint frames the dispute as a break from OpenAI's original mission as a public-first nonprofit that prioritized safety, toward a profit-at-all-costs approach that sidelines safeguards.

Common Sense Media has called ChatGPT for Teens an "unacceptable risk," and Florida seeks a ban on ChatGPT acting like a person. Florida is not one of the eight plaintiffs. Those plaintiffs are pressing consumer-protection claims over missing warnings, collection of data from minors, underage access to ChatGPT, and alleged "recklessness" drawn from recent rogue AI hacking incidents. OpenAI replied by email. The Verge added that reply in an October 14 update to Emma Roth's report, which ran at 9:11 p.m. UTC after Reuters reported the suits.

Eight states: who is affected

The states say children and underage users were put at risk. Lawsuits say OpenAI collected data from minors and did not do enough to keep them from using ChatGPT after presenting it as a "safe, youth-appropriate tool that puts safety first." The complaints call it "dangerous to vulnerable users," citing paranoias and delusions, dangerous medical advice, and unhealthy relationships. Families of teens and adults allege the chatbot played a role in deaths. Customers the states say were not warned are in those consumer claims.

OpenAI is the defendant the states want ordered to pay civil penalties, to stop misleading the public about ChatGPT's safety, and, in some filings, to delete unlawfully collected personal data. Spokesperson Drew Pusateri told The Verge that the company has "built industry-leading age-specific protections" into ChatGPT. He named parental controls, break reminders, and age-appropriate model protections that exist today. He said OpenAI will keep working with experts, and that it will work with states on pragmatic AI policies for the entire AI industry, not just one company.

Eight states: what to watch

The states want OpenAI to pay a series of civil penalties and to stop misleading the public about ChatGPT's safety. Some want unlawfully collected personal data deleted, tied to the charge that OpenAI collected data from minors and did not do enough to keep underage users from using it. The complaints cite family lawsuits alleging a role in the deaths of teens and adults, plus recent rogue AI hacking incidents as alleged "recklessness." No dollar amount is given for those penalties.

Drew Pusateri emailed this statement to The Verge: "While no system can be perfect, we'll continue to work with experts to inform our work and build additional safeguards, such as the parental controls, break reminders and age-appropriate model protections that exist today. We're committed to working with states on advancing pragmatic AI policies that apply to the entire AI industry - not just one company." The October 14 update added that statement. He also said OpenAI has "built industry-leading age-specific protections" into ChatGPT.