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Five states suing OpenAI ask courts to restrict model testing
The News
Attorneys general in eight states sued OpenAI on October 14, 2026, each in its own state court, alleging it misled consumers about ChatGPT's safety and harmed children. All eight suits invoke state consumer-protection laws and seek civil penalties, injunctions and restitution or reimbursement. Iowa, Idaho, Arizona, Montana and Arkansas also ask courts to restrict OpenAI's testing of advanced models.
Chandni Melwani
Founder & Editor
Oct 20, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
Know More
- — Venues include: Polk County, Iowa; Shawnee County, Kansas; Buffalo County, Nebraska; Mason County, West Virginia; Maricopa County, Arizona.
- — Shared counsel: New York and Los Angeles firm Kibler Fowler & Cave appears on all eight complaints.
- — Kansas: alleges OpenAI did not disclose that its age-prediction system misclassified minors as adults about 12% of the time.
- — West Virginia: seeks an order that OpenAI fund a court-supervised abatement plan, including digital-safety education in public schools.
Near the end of its petition against OpenAI, Iowa asks the court to bar “any further testing of advanced AI models” until adequate safeguards ensure tests “do not pose a danger to the public” and third-party monitors have verified them.
Idaho, Arizona and Montana ask courts, in identical wording, to stop OpenAI “deploying or continuing to test advanced AI models outside of a secured, independently verified testing environment.” Arkansas mirrors Iowa’s request almost word for word and also seeks to bar OpenAI from creating models capable of recursive self-improvement until it can ensure they “will be aligned with human values.”
Idaho’s complaint alleges that in July 2026 more than 1,200 OpenAI agents escaped a test sandbox and hacked Hugging Face’s servers.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said OpenAI built “industry-leading age-specific protections.” On “incidents of misalignment,” he said: “We’ve strengthened safeguards across our research systems, continued a broader review of model activity, provided notifications to affected organizations, and published our findings.”
The Read
Idaho grounds its testing request in consumer-protection law, arguing Idaho consumers keep paying for ChatGPT, relying on OpenAI's safety claims, while, it alleges, the models have escaped their controls. One firm, Kibler Fowler & Cave, is listed as counsel on all eight complaints, and seven of them repeat long passages word for word, so more states will probably file near-copies.
Room for Disagreement
Shared wording has not meant shared demands. Kansas and Nebraska, whose first paragraphs match word for word, make no specific testing request, and West Virginia's version targets deploying 'agentic or other features' without disclosing material safety incidents. So a near-copy may leave testing out.
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did the states sue separately instead of as a group?
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said suing state by state lets each attorney general sue under their own state's laws, including consumer fraud acts, and that there is 'power in numbers,' Iowa Capital Dispatch reported. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers said: 'I want to make sure that Nebraska parents are on a Nebraska jury to be able to determine what the Nebraska harm was, to hold them liable.'
What harms do the states say ChatGPT causes?
Arizona's lawsuit alleges ChatGPT exposes minors to harms including degrading critical-thinking skills, encouraging unwarranted paranoia or delusional thinking, offering dangerous unlicensed medical guidance, and promoting unhealthy behaviours and relationships. Arkansas says consumers, including minors, have used ChatGPT to get instructions for self-harm, including suicide. Idaho alleges OpenAI falsely says it does not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13, while using no age verification.
Is this the first state lawsuit against OpenAI?
No. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, on June 1, 2026, and filed for a temporary injunction against both on September 28. In a video statement, Uthmeier listed demands including 'No new model development without independent safety guardrails,' The Floridian Press reported.
Sources
- State of Iowa v. OpenAI Global, LLC et al., petition, Iowa District Court for Polk County, dated October 14, 2026 (copy hosted by Just Security). Prayer item I, the request to bar further testing of advanced AI models; prayer item E, reimbursement; Kibler Fowler & Cave on the signature page.
- State of Idaho v. OpenAI Global, LLC et al., complaint, Fourth Judicial District, Ada County, dated October 14, 2026. Prayer item F (testing outside a secured, independently verified environment), the July 2026 Hugging Face incident as alleged (paras 201-204), para 250 and para 226(h).
- State of Arizona v. OpenAI Global, LLC et al., complaint, Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County, dated October 14, 2026 (copy hosted by Just Security). Prayer item E, the same testing clause as Idaho and Montana.
- Arizona Attorney General, release, October 14, 2026. Filing in Maricopa County Superior Court and the harms the lawsuit alleges for Arizona minors.
- State of Montana ex rel. Knudsen v. OpenAI Global, LLC et al., complaint, First Judicial District Court, Lewis and Clark County, dated October 14, 2026. Prayer item K, the same testing clause as Idaho and Arizona.
- Montana Department of Justice, release, October 14, 2026. The other seven states that sued in their own state courts.
- State of Arkansas ex rel. Griffin v. OpenAI Global, LLC et al., complaint, Faulkner County Circuit Court, electronically filed October 14, 2026, case 23CV-26-2984 (copy hosted by Just Security). Prayer items m (further testing of advanced AI models) and n (models capable of recursive self-improvement); Kibler Fowler & Cave on the signature page.
- Arkansas Attorney General, release, October 14, 2026. Its allegation that consumers, including minors, used ChatGPT to get instructions for self-harm.
- State of Kansas ex rel. Kobach v. OpenAI Global, LLC et al., petition, District Court of Shawnee County, electronically filed October 14, 2026 (copy hosted by Just Security). Para 1, para 260(h) (the age-prediction allegation), and a prayer with no testing-specific item.
- State of Nebraska ex rel. Hilgers v. OpenAI Global, LLC et al., complaint, District Court of Buffalo County, filed October 14, 2026 (copy hosted by Just Security). Para 1, word for word the same as Kansas's, and a prayer with no testing-specific item.
- State of West Virginia v. OpenAI Global, LLC et al., complaint, Circuit Court of Mason County, filed October 14, 2026 (copy hosted by Just Security). Prayer items F (deploying agentic or other features without disclosure of material safety incidents) and H (court-supervised abatement plan).
- Iowa Attorney General, release, October 14, 2026. The joint press conference with the Kansas, Nebraska and West Virginia attorneys general, and the states that sued in their own state courts.
- Iowa Capital Dispatch, via High Plains Public Radio, October 16, 2026. Bird and Hilgers on why the states filed separately.
- The Hill, October 14, 2026. OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri on its age-specific protections and on incidents of misalignment.
- Florida Attorney General, release, June 1, 2026. The civil lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman, filed in the Tenth Judicial Circuit of Florida.
- Florida Attorney General, release, September 28, 2026. The temporary-injunction filing against OpenAI and Sam Altman.
- The Floridian Press, September 28, 2026. Uthmeier's listed demands, from his video statement.
- Hero photo: Iowa State Capitol, April 2010, by Iqkotze, Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0
- Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported licence, which applies to the hero photo
Chandni Melwani
Chandni Melwani is the founder and editor of New in AI, covering AI agents, M&A, and enterprise adoption. She holds a Master's in Management of Artificial Intelligence from Queen's University and brings a practitioner's perspective from her work in Data and AI leadership.
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