Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman on Friday, alleging the company misled Texas consumers about ChatGPT's safety and failed to put adequate safeguards in place for teenage users. The 67-page complaint, filed in Collin County district court, names OpenAI Global LLC, several affiliated entities and Altman personally.
The case rests mainly on the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, citing sections 17.46(a), (b) and (c). It also accuses OpenAI of violating the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act, known as the SCOPE Act, a Texas law that requires stricter age verification and parental consent for minors online.
The state is asking for monetary relief of more than $1 million. The bigger ask is injunctive: Texas wants limits on minors' access to ChatGPT and a requirement that a court-appointed independent evaluator approve new ChatGPT models before OpenAI can release them in the state. The case has been designated Level 3 for discovery.
Key facts
- 01Texas AG Ken Paxton sued OpenAI Global LLC, affiliated entities and CEO Sam Altman in Collin County district court on Oct. 23, 2026.
- 02The 67-page complaint cites the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the SCOPE Act on age verification and parental consent.
- 03Texas seeks monetary relief of over $1 million plus an injunction limiting minors' access to ChatGPT.
- 04The state wants a court-appointed independent evaluator to approve new ChatGPT models before release in Texas.
- 05OpenAI had not responded to requests for comment when the suit was reported.
According to the attorney general's office, OpenAI markets ChatGPT as safe and reliable while releasing products without sufficient parental controls, age verification or safety testing. The complaint argues that large language model outputs can be inaccurate or harmful without users being warned, and it attributes the alleged shortcomings to OpenAI's push to win the AI race and generate profits.
The filing lists a range of alleged harms, including aiding violent attacks, encouraging suicide, damaging the reputations of professionals, eroding users' critical thinking and getting minors hooked on the product without parental oversight. It cites at least eight people who committed violent acts after consulting ChatGPT, including the 2025 Florida State University shooter, an allegation drawn from a separate lawsuit filed by a victim's widow.
The complaint also raises data and security concerns, pointing to alleged unauthorized data collection and a July 2026 security breach at Hugging Face. Paxton's release frames the case partly around OpenAI's corporate history, quoting the company's founding mission to advance digital intelligence for the benefit of humanity and arguing that OpenAI has since shifted to a profit-driven business.
The complaint also references the mid-2026 trial in Elon Musk's case against Altman, in which a California jury unanimously found OpenAI not liable. Texas is represented in part by outside lawyers Ashley Keller and Tony Buzbee.
OpenAI had not responded to requests for comment at the time the suit was reported, so the company's side of the case is not yet on the record.
The case follows other 2026 enforcement actions against OpenAI by state attorneys general over ChatGPT and young users. Paxton, who is running for the U.S. Senate, has sued or settled with Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Roblox over the past year under state consumer protection laws.
OpenAI has facilities in Texas tied to its Stargate project, including one in Abilene. Paxton said in a statement that OpenAI has the responsibility to protect users and warn them of the dangers of its platform.
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