The Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, filed suit against OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, in Collin County district court on Friday 23 October 2026. The claim is brought under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the state's SCOPE Act, which protects children online.
The allegations
The state says OpenAI misled users about the safety of ChatGPT and failed to put adequate safeguards in place. The Attorney General's office links the product to harms including assistance to people planning violence, encouragement of suicide, damage to professionals' reputations, and minors becoming dependent on a chatbot that collects their data without parental oversight.
What Texas is asking for
According to the petition and press coverage, the state is seeking:
- monetary relief of more than $1,000,000, plus civil penalties;
- an injunction requiring OpenAI to block minors' access to ChatGPT;
- a requirement that a court-appointed evaluator approve any new OpenAI model before release; and
- personal liability for Mr Altman.
OpenAI said it had worked with experts on safeguards and supported robust safety standards that apply across the whole AI industry rather than to one company.
The wider context
The Texas Tribune notes that Mr Paxton is the Republican nominee for the US Senate and that Elon Musk, whose xAI competes with OpenAI, is the largest donor to his campaign. Texas has previously sued or settled with Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Roblox under its consumer protection laws. The suit follows other state actions against OpenAI over ChatGPT safety and the Federal Trade Commission's recent demands for information from OpenAI and Anthropic.
Why it matters financially
The cash claim, more than $1 million plus penalties, is small next to OpenAI's size. The real financial risk is the injunction: a court-appointed gatekeeper over model releases and a ban on under-18s in the US's second-largest state would slow product launches and could become a template for other states. Personal liability for a chief executive is also unusual and would raise insurance and governance costs across the sector.