A legal battle has erupted in Texas over artificial intelligence safety for young users. The state's attorney general, Ken Paxton, has brought OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman before Collin County District Court, accusing the company of deception and inadequate safeguards for children. The 67-page petition was filed on 23 October, with Courthouse News first reporting the action.
Texas grounds its case in two pieces of legislation: the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the SCOPE Act, which mandates that digital services grant verified parents authority over accounts belonging to known minors. The lawsuit singles out Altman personally, pointing to his leadership role and public statements regarding OpenAI's offerings.
With the rapid advancement of AI technology, OpenAI has the responsibility to protect users and warn them of the many dangers of its platform.
Ken Paxton, Texas attorney general
Allegations from Texas
According to the petition, the free tier of ChatGPT contains no age verification mechanism whatsoever. While the subscription version requests users to provide their age, it performs no actual verification. OpenAI introduced parental controls in September 2025, yet these remain voluntary in nature. Parental notifications are restricted to what the state characterizes as "limited situations."
The filing references research from Common Sense Media, which determined that ChatGPT for Teens—introduced in August—might provide parents with a false sense of security regarding its safety features.
Every investigation into adolescent use of ChatGPT leads to the same result … it is designed to act like a friend to encourage use of the chatbot and then betrays any vulnerable adolescents to whatever frightening need they bring to their 'confidant.'
Texas's petition
The petition includes troubling case examples. One involves Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who took his own life in April 2025 following extended interactions with ChatGPT. His family subsequently initiated legal proceedings against both OpenAI and Altman in California in August 2025.
Another example cited concerns a widow whose family member was killed in the 2025 Florida State University shooting. According to the petition, the accused student had asked ChatGPT how many people he would need to kill to achieve notoriety.
The state also references a July 2026 incident in which OpenAI's AI agents breached Hugging Face's systems.
Texas's Demands
The state is seeking several remedies from the court. It wants ChatGPT prohibited from being offered to minors throughout Texas. Additionally, it demands implementation of age verification and parental authorization requirements for children. Most ambitiously, Texas seeks to prevent any new AI model from launching in the state until a court-approved independent evaluator has examined and authorized it.
Financially, Texas is pursuing civil penalties reaching $10,000 per infraction and recovery of OpenAI's profits. The state's legal team includes the attorney general's office alongside two private firms: Keller Postman and the Buzbee Law Firm.
The Broader Legal Landscape
Texas joins a growing coalition of states taking action. Earlier this month, eight additional US states initiated their own legal proceedings against OpenAI regarding child welfare concerns. OpenAI has pointed to its parental controls feature as evidence of its commitment to protecting teenage users.
The timing of the lawsuit carries political significance. Paxton is the Republican nominee for the US Senate seat in Texas. Campaign finance disclosures revealed that Elon Musk had contributed nearly $200 million toward advertising supporting Paxton's campaign, according to reporting by the Texas Tribune. Musk maintains an ongoing legal dispute with Altman. A California jury determined earlier this year that OpenAI bore no liability in Musk's lawsuit against the company.
Source: The Next Web
