Texas AG Paxton Sues OpenAI, Altman Over ChatGPT Safety Claims

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, accusing the maker of ChatGPT of marketing its chatbot as safe while failing to protect Texans, including children, according to a press release from the Texas Attorney General’s office.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in Collin County district court, the Texas Tribune reported. It brings claims under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, according to the attorney general’s office.

Texas Attorney General @KenPaxtonTX sued Sam Altman’s OpenAI on Friday, accusing the company of lying about risks it could pose to users. https://t.co/eVhgSXvu37

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 24, 2026

“With the rapid advancement of AI technology, OpenAI has the responsibility to protect users and warn them of the many dangers of its platform,” Paxton said in the press release. “I will fight to protect Texans from the harms of AI and ensure that powerful technology companies are not above the law.”

Altman’s own words open the case

The lawsuit opens with a 2015 quote attributed to Altman: “AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there’ll be great companies,” according to the Texas Tribune.

The attorney general’s office argues that OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit that promised to benefit “humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return,” but then misrepresented its products and gave ChatGPT what the release calls “a careless introduction” to Texas and the world.

In the release, Paxton’s office claims that chatbots without adequate safeguards can produce inaccurate or harmful information without warning users. The office alleges that mass shooters have been “aided and abetted” by AI chatbots, that vulnerable people have been pushed toward harm, and that minors have become addicted to “a tool that fakes human compassion to collect their data with no parental oversight.” The release blames what it calls the company’s “insatiable quest to win the AI arms race and amass large fortunes.”

What Texas wants

Paxton is seeking a wide-ranging injunction that would require OpenAI to block minors from accessing its product and to get approval from a court-appointed evaluator before releasing new models, among other restrictions, the Texas Tribune reported.

Bloomberg Law reported on the filing Friday, noting that Paxton’s office says the company imposed “negative side effects on consumers.” The suit names Altman personally alongside OpenAI and its affiliated entities, according to the attorney general’s office.

Part of a broader Big Tech fight

The case is not Paxton’s first against a major tech platform. Over the past year, he has sued or settled with Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Roblox under the state’s consumer protection laws, alleging they lacked sufficient guardrails to protect Texans, especially children, according to the Texas Tribune.

The Tribune also noted that Paxton is the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate and that OpenAI is a top competitor to Elon Musk, whom the outlet described as a major backer of Paxton’s Senate campaign.

It was not immediately clear whether OpenAI had responded publicly to the lawsuit. The allegations in the petition have not been tested in court.

For parents worried about what their children are doing online, the case puts a direct question to one of the most powerful companies in Silicon Valley: whether a product sold as safe and reliable was ever built with families in mind.

Sources

• Texas Attorney General press release
• Texas Tribune
• Bloomberg Law
• Washington Examiner on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.