Texas sues OpenAI and Sam Altman in Collin County court, seeking to bar minors from ChatGPT and require outside review of new AI models

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a consumer protection lawsuit Friday, Oct. 23, against OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, choosing a Collin County district court as the venue.

The 67-page petition accuses the company behind ChatGPT of misleading Texans on how safe, accurate and reliable its products are and of violating the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act, known as the SCOPE Act, which limits how online services collect data from known minors and requires tools for verified parents. The claims are allegations; no court has ruled on them.

Why Collin County

The petition argues the case belongs in Collin County because OpenAI does business there and because much of the conduct the state complains about took place in the county. It states that ChatGPT has thousands of users in Collin County and millions across Texas.

The state wants a jury to hear the case and says it has paid the jury fee to the county's district clerk.

What the state wants

The suit asks a judge to temporarily and then permanently bar OpenAI from a list of practices, including offering ChatGPT to minors in Texas, providing content unsuitable for children without age verification, and failing to warn users of the product's dangers.

One requested order would bar the company from rolling out any new AI model in Texas until an outside reviewer, picked with the court's approval, has examined its safety protections and signed off.

The state also asks for a civil penalty of $10,000 per violation under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, disgorgement of assets, interest, and court and attorney costs. The petition says the state is seeking more than $1 million in monetary relief and wants Altman held personally liable.

In a news release, Paxton's office said OpenAI "has the responsibility to protect users and warn them of the many dangers of its platform." The release and petition contend that the chatbot has contributed to harms ranging from encouragement of suicide to minors becoming addicted to it.

Other side and context

OpenAI's response was not included in the attorney general's release, and The Texas Tribune's report on the filing did not include a comment from the company.

The Tribune reported that Paxton, who is running for the U.S. Senate, has taken Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Roblox to court or reached settlements with them over the past year using the same consumer protection laws.

It also reported that the state is represented in the case by outside counsel, including Ashley Keller and Tony Buzbee, and noted that Elon Musk, whose company makes the competing chatbot Grok, is backing Paxton's Senate campaign.

Sources

texasattorneygeneral.gov

texasattorneygeneral.gov

The Texas Tribune