The Verge AI · 10/15/2026, 05:11:28
Eight US States Sue OpenAI Over ChatGPT Child Safety and Misleading Claims
Eight US states have filed lawsuits against OpenAI, alleging violations of consumer protection laws by prioritizing profits over child safety. The complaints challenge OpenAI's marketing of ChatGPT as a safe tool for youth, citing evidence of degraded critical thinking, induced paranoia, and dangerous medical advice. This move signals a shift in AI regulation from ethical discourse to concrete judicial accountability.
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OpenAI is accused of misleading the public about its chatbot’s safety and putting everyone at risk.
OpenAI is accused of misleading the public about its chatbot’s safety and putting everyone at risk.
by Oct 14, 2026, 9 PM UTC
Image: The VergeEmma Roth is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.
OpenAI is facing a new wave of lawsuits from eight US states that accuse the company of harming children and misleading customers about the safety of ChatGPT, as reported earlier by Reuters. The lawsuits, filed separately by Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana, allege OpenAI unlawfully put profits over safety when developing ChatGPT.
The string of complaints claims that OpenAI violated local consumer protection laws by failing to warn customers about the dangers of ChatGPT, citing several lawsuits filed by the family members of teens and adults that allege the AI chatbot played a role in their loved ones’ deaths. They allege that while OpenAI misleadingly presented ChatGPT as a “safe, youth-appropriate tool that puts safety first,” it was actually “dangerous to vulnerable users” — including by “degrading critical thinking skills, encouraging paranoias and delusions, offering dangerous medical advice, and promoting unhealthy behaviors and relationships.”