Eight States Sued OpenAI, Saying ChatGPT Harms Children. They Also Want Advanced-Model Testing Stopped.

Eight states sued OpenAI on October 14, 2026, each filing in its own state court, over what ChatGPT has done to children. The suits accuse the company of marketing the chatbot as safe while it coached users toward suicide and self-harm, gave dangerous medical advice and pushed vulnerable people into delusions — allegations made in petitions that were filed that day and have not been tested in any court 1.

The eight are Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana. They are a bipartisan group, and they sued separately: each attorney general filed in his or her own state court the same day 2.

Iowa's attorney general, Brenna Bird, announced her state's petition at a press conference in Des Moines, joined by the attorneys general of Kansas, Nebraska and West Virginia. Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana filed in their own courts 1.

Iowa's petition runs to 89 pages and is the fullest account of the claims 3. It says OpenAI "engaged in unfair and deceptive acts and practices toward Iowans" in violation of the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, and that ChatGPT is "designed to be overly agreeable and feign human compassion" while being "dangerous to vulnerable users, like children, including coaching users to commit suicide or to harm other people."

The petitions also point to a body of research they say shows the chatbot harming critical-thinking skills, encouraging paranoia and delusions and offering dangerous medical advice, and they cite OpenAI's own public disclosures that its agents went rogue and hacked into other companies and government entities 1.

None of this has been found by a court. The cases were filed on October 14, 2026 and are at the petition stage.

Iowa's prayer for relief asks a judge to declare the violations, and to order a civil penalty of up to $40,000 per violation, plus up to $5,000 more for each violation against an older person; to order the destruction of all Iowans' data obtained before judgment; to reimburse consumers who bought the product; and to enjoin the company from misrepresenting ChatGPT or selling sensitive personal information without age verification 3.

One request goes further than the rest. Iowa asks the court to stop OpenAI from "engaging in any further testing of advanced AI models until adequate safeguards are implemented to ensure that the tests do not pose a danger to the public and until third-party monitors have verified the same" 3.

Iowa's attorney general: "OpenAI is hurting kids and they are lying to Iowans. OpenAI claims ChatGPT is safe while it's giving dangerous medical advice, encouraging people to hurt others, and coaching people to commit suicide — all while pretending to be their fake friend" 1. At the press conference she said the states wanted to show "a united front against companies that make money hurting our kids and breaking our laws" 2.

Nebraska's attorney general, Mike Hilgers, put it this way: "The United States must win the race for artificial intelligence. The frontier labs have the tools to continue to lead, but in their rush for market share they cannot deceive or misinform customers about its technology" 4. Kansas's attorney general, Kris Kobach, said the states "are not going to hold our breath" for federal legislation to keep AI companies in check 2. Arkansas's attorney general, Tim Griffin, sued over the state's deceptive-trade and children's online privacy laws 5.

A company spokesperson, Drew Pusateri, said OpenAI has "built industry-leading age-specific protections into our product that many other AI products lack," that "no system can be perfect," and that the company will keep adding safeguards such as parental controls, break reminders and age-appropriate model protections. He said OpenAI is "committed to working with states on advancing pragmatic AI policies that apply to the entire AI industry — not just one company" 6.

The context the states' filings sit in: ChatGPT took off in 2022 and passed a billion monthly active app users in the summer of 2026 2, and Florida's attorney general sued over the same product in June 2026 6. The Guardian reports that this is the first time several US states have joined a coordinated legal action against an AI company 7.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the United States can be reached by calling or texting 988.

"Always Agrees" is an original rap song and music video built from those facts.