State attorney general AI chatbot lawsuits tracker: Florida, Texas, OpenAI, Character.AI

State attorneys general have moved from investigating AI chatbots to suing the companies that make them. This tracker logs every state-led action against OpenAI and Character.AI that we have verified, with dates, courts, claims and the latest status. It is updated when a filing, ruling or settlement changes an entry, and it names what we could not confirm.

The short version, as of October 25, 2026

• Florida filed the first state lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman on June 1, 2026.
• Texas sued OpenAI and Altman on October 23, 2026, in Collin County district court.
• Character.AI, sued and investigated over minors, filed for Chapter 11 on October 13, 2026.
• A broader multistate coalition is reported to be investigating OpenAI, but the member list is unconfirmed.

Florida v. OpenAI and Sam Altman

Filed: June 1, 2026, in Florida's 10th Judicial Circuit, by Attorney General James Uthmeier. The American Bar Association Journal counts 10 claims: violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, negligence, gross negligence, strict liability and public nuisance, plus fraudulent misrepresentation against OpenAI alone. The suit also seeks to hold Altman personally liable.

Allegations: ChatGPT was marketed to children while risks were concealed, and it facilitates self-harm and violence. The suit cites the death of 16-year-old Adam Raine and alleged ChatGPT use by the accused gunman in the 2025 Florida State University shooting. CNN reports the suit says the free version has no age verification and that parents cannot see what a child has shared.

Quote: Uthmeier said: "Sam Altman and ChatGPT have chosen the AI race over the safety and security of our kids."

OpenAI's response: It said it had "built safety for minors directly into our products, including a more protective experience specifically for minors, an age prediction tool," and parental monitoring tools.

Status: Crypto Briefing reports Florida asked for a temporary injunction on September 28, 2026, that would restrict minors' access and bar new models without third-party oversight. We found no report of a ruling as of mid-October. Uthmeier had also opened a criminal investigation in April 2026 over the FSU shooting, according to reports.

Texas v. OpenAI and Sam Altman

Filed: October 23, 2026, in Collin County district court, by Attorney General Ken Paxton, with outside counsel including Ashley Keller and Tony Buzbee, per the Texas Tribune.

Allegations: OpenAI deceived and harmed Texans and has not sufficiently regulated ChatGPT. The state's release lists encouragement of suicide and addiction among minors.

Relief sought: An injunction barring minors from ChatGPT and requiring a court-appointed third-party evaluator to approve new models.

Status: OpenAI had not responded when the Tribune reported. We will log its response and any removal to federal court here.

Texas and Character.AI

August 19, 2025: Paxton opened an investigation into Meta AI Studio and Character.AI with civil investigative demands, over whether they marketed chatbots as mental health tools. He had earlier challenged Character.AI over possible violations of the SCOPE Act, according to Hoodline's report.

December 2024: Texas launched a separate investigation into whether Character.AI complied with child privacy and safety laws, per TechCrunch.

Character.AI: lawsuits and bankruptcy

October 2024: A Florida mother sued after her 14-year-old son died by suicide; TechCrunch reports the company later settled some of these lawsuits. AI Weekly says Character.AI and Google settled the Florida case, and describes youth-safety suits by Kentucky and Pennsylvania that we have not verified in court records.

October 13, 2026: Character.AI filed for Chapter 11. It has a $20 million stalking-horse bid from Disney for a non-exclusive license to some IP, and CEO Colin Adams says: "If such a bid is unavailable, however, the platform will be wound down." A sale is expected in late November or early December.

The multistate probe

Crypto Briefing reports a 42-state coalition is investigating OpenAI, and a proposed class action over data practices involving minors was filed in California on October 13, 2026. We could not open a primary document naming all coalition members, so we log the coalition as reported, not confirmed.

Patterns across the cases

• The legal theory is consumer protection and product liability, not AI law. Florida's claims and Texas's stated approach rely on deceptive-practices statutes that predate chatbots.
• The remedies are escalating. Florida's motion and the Texas complaint both ask for third-party oversight of new models, a measure far beyond a fine.
• Individual liability is now on the table. Florida names Altman personally.
• Age assurance is the concrete product fact. The allegations about missing age verification can be checked against product behavior.

What to read next

The two live questions are procedural. First, whether OpenAI moves the Texas case to federal court, which would slow it and could consolidate it with other challenges. Second, whether the Florida court rules on the temporary injunction request, which would be the first judicial test of third-party model oversight. A ruling either way will be logged here with the order text and the date, and any statement from OpenAI will be quoted in full so readers can compare it with the allegations.

How we update this page

Each entry changes only on a primary event: a filing, order, settlement or public statement from a party. We link the sources opened and mark anything secondary. If you spot a state action missing from this list, it will be added once we can open its filing or the attorney general's release.

Our take

The cases to follow are the two injunction fights. If either court orders third-party model approval, the debate over federal preemption stops being theoretical. If both are narrowed to age assurance, companies get a clear compliance target. Either way, the tracker will show which it was.