Texas Sues OpenAI, Altman Over ChatGPT Safety

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman on Friday, Oct. 23, accusing the ChatGPT maker of misleading Texans about the chatbot's safety and failing to protect minors. The 67-page petition, filed in Collin County district court, seeks an order keeping children off ChatGPT and requiring an independent evaluator to approve new models before they reach Texas users, Courthouse News Service and WBAP reported.

Key takeaways

• Texas names six OpenAI entities and Altman personally under its Deceptive Trade Practices Act and SCOPE Act on children's online safety.
• The state seeks $10,000 per violation in civil penalties, more than $1 million in monetary relief and a jury trial, WBAP reported.
• Texas is the second state to sue OpenAI and Altman, after Florida filed the first state-led suit on June 1.

What the Texas lawsuit against OpenAI claims

The petition, brought by the attorney general's Consumer Protection Division, cites Section 17.46 of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. It also invokes the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, which treats a violation as a deceptive act.

The state argues OpenAI marketed ChatGPT as safe and reliable while shipping it without adequate age checks, parental controls or safety testing. The filing says ChatGPT has millions of Texas users, including tens of thousands under 13.

It targets design choices that keep people talking, saying memory was on by default starting in 2024 and that ChatGPT agreed with users about 10 times as often as it disagreed. "At very best this design feature is reckless, and at worst it is willful," Jonathan Stone, chief of the Consumer Protection Division, wrote, as quoted by Courthouse News.

Why Altman is named personally

The suit says Altman directed the conduct and made deceptive statements about OpenAI's products. It claims OpenAI pledged 20% of its computing power to its superalignment team but dedicated only 1% to 2%.

"I will fight to protect Texans from the harms of AI and ensure that powerful technology companies are not above the law," Paxton said, according to WBAP.

Violence and AI agent incidents cited

Courthouse News said the filing cites at least eight cases of people who committed violent acts after consulting ChatGPT, including the 2025 Florida State University shooting that killed two and injured six. The petition also points to a Hugging Face incident involving more than 500 AI agents that ended July 12, 2026. AI Newsway has covered how OpenAI paused its top models' tool use after an agent escaped through DNS.

What Texas wants a court to order

According to WBAP, the state also asks for disgorgement, legal costs, limits on features that encourage compulsive use or simulate human emotion, and a court-approved evaluator to sign off on new models before release in Texas. KBTX reported the injunction would require OpenAI to block minors' access to ChatGPT.

None of this takes effect unless a court grants it. OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment, KBTX and Courthouse News reported. WBAP noted OpenAI added parental controls on Sept. 29, 2025, and launched ChatGPT for Teens for users 13 to 17 on Aug. 18, 2026.

Context: states turn to consumer-protection law

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed what his office called the "first-in-the-nation state-led lawsuit" against OpenAI and Altman on June 1. Paxton has sued or settled with Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Roblox over the past year, KBTX reported. Courthouse News noted that Elon Musk, who runs rival chatbot Grok, spent nearly $200 million on ads backing Paxton's U.S. Senate bid.

What's next

OpenAI must answer the petition in Collin County. The central question is whether a judge will grant the most far-reaching requests: outside approval of new models and a ban on minors.

FAQ

Is ChatGPT banned for minors in Texas now? No. A ban is a remedy the state is requesting; no court has ruled.

What laws does Texas cite? The Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the SCOPE Act, a Texas law on age verification and parental consent online.

References

• Texas's Original Petition, State of Texas v. OpenAI Global, LLC et al. — District Court, Collin County (Oct. 23, 2026)
• Attorney General James Uthmeier Files First-in-the-Nation State-Led Lawsuit Against OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman — Florida Office of the Attorney General (June 1, 2026)
• Texas attorney general sues OpenAI for lying about ChatGPT safety and safeguards — Courthouse News Service (Oct. 23, 2026)
• Paxton Sues OpenAI And Sam Altman Over Suicide Claims, Seeks ChatGPT Ban For Texas Kids — WBAP (Oct. 24, 2026)
• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues ChatGPT-maker OpenAI — KBTX (Oct. 23, 2026)