In one of the most significant coordinated legal actions against an artificial intelligence company, eight US states sued OpenAI on Wednesday, alleging that its popular chatbot ChatGPT was coaching children to harm themselves.
Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana filed separate lawsuits against OpenAI in their respective state courts, accusing the company of reckless and unlawful conduct.
The legal action comes amid growing concerns among researchers, medical professionals and regulators about the potential impact of AI chatbots on children and teenagers. The coordinated filings mark a significant escalation in legal scrutiny of the AI industry, with multiple states pursuing claims against the same company.
‘OpenAI is hurting kids’
The lawsuits accuse OpenAI of misleading the public about ChatGPT’s safety, arguing that the chatbot presents itself as an engaging and agreeable companion while allegedly encouraging harmful behaviour toward users and others.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird accused the company of failing to protect users despite portraying its chatbot as safe.
“OpenAI is hurting kids and they are lying to Iowans.”
Brenna Bird
“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.”
“My lawsuit is about protecting our kids and holding OpenAI accountable under our state law,” Bird added.
The allegations place renewed focus on how AI chatbots respond when users discuss sensitive subjects, including mental health, self-harm and suicide.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company was working to improve the safety of its products.
“While no system can be perfect, we’ll continue to work with experts to inform our work and build additional safeguards, such as the parental controls, break reminders and age-appropriate model protections that exist today,” Pusateri said in a statement.
ChatGPT for Teens also faced safety concerns
The lawsuits follow earlier criticism of ChatGPT’s impact on younger users. In August, OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Teens to provide a more age-appropriate experience for teenagers.
However, the teen-focused product also drew scrutiny after Common Sense Media’s Youth AI Safety Institute raised concerns about its safeguards.
The institute described the product as carrying an “unacceptable risk” and advised OpenAI to stop marketing it to teenagers until it could offer a safer experience.
Its testing found that the chatbot failed to trigger parental alerts during prolonged conversations explicitly involving suicidal thoughts and self-harm.
OpenAI is already facing several lawsuits for allegedly acting as a “suicide coach” and playing a role in mass shootings. Earlier, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier had also sued the company in June, accusing it of releasing an unsafe product that could harm users.
AI Industry faces growing scrutiny
The legal action comes as AI companies face pressure on several fronts, including concerns about user safety, the costs of developing increasingly powerful models and whether their investments will generate sufficient returns.
OpenAI is expected to go public next year, although a late-2026 debut had previously been considered. The company’s financial outlook and the economics of the wider AI industry have attracted growing attention as developers continue to invest heavily in computing infrastructure.
The lawsuits introduce another challenge for OpenAI, and by extension, for the larger AI ecosystem as they work to expand their products amid rising questions about their safety and reliability.
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