Texas sues OpenAI and Sam Altman, asking a court to bar minors from ChatGPT

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, in Collin County district court on Friday, October 23, 2026, asking a judge to bar minors from ChatGPT and to require a court-appointed evaluator to approve new models before release. It follows Florida's June suit over alleged harms to young users and goes further on remedies.

What Texas is asking for

According to the Texas Tribune's report of the filing, the state's press release says OpenAI deceived and harmed Texans and has not sufficiently regulated ChatGPT. It lists harms including that "vulnerable people have been encouraged into suicide" and that "minors have become addicted" to the tool. The Tribune reports no case number and no statement from OpenAI, which had not responded to a request for comment when the story ran.

The relief is broad. Paxton wants an injunction that would bar minors from accessing ChatGPT, and he wants new models approved by a third-party evaluator that a court appoints. Outside counsel including Ashley Keller and Tony Buzbee represent the state. The Tribune adds that Paxton has sued or settled with Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Roblox under Texas consumer protection law in the past year, so this is a familiar playbook aimed at a new kind of defendant.

The complaint opens with a 2015 line from Altman, reported by the Tribune: "AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there'll be great companies."

How it differs from Florida

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed the first state suit against OpenAI and Altman on June 1, 2026, in the state's 10th Judicial Circuit. The American Bar Association Journal counts 10 claims, including violations of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, negligence, gross negligence, strict liability and public nuisance, plus fraudulent misrepresentation against OpenAI alone. Florida cites the death of 16-year-old Adam Raine and alleged ChatGPT use by the accused gunman in the 2025 Florida State University shooting.

At the time Uthmeier said: "Sam Altman and ChatGPT have chosen the AI race over the safety and security of our kids." OpenAI answered that it had "built safety for minors directly into our products, including a more protective experience specifically for minors, an age prediction tool," and tools for parents to monitor use, according to CNN's report of the response.

Texas leans on the same consumer-protection theory but reaches further. Florida's filing seeks to hold Altman personally liable and penalties that could run to billions of dollars. Texas asks for something closer to a licensing regime: no new model ships without an outside evaluator's sign-off. Crypto Briefing's summary says Florida's September 28 injunction motion also seeks third-party oversight of new models, so the idea is spreading. We know of no federal statute that imposes it on a US lab, and a Collin County judge would be setting it by injunction rather than by legislation.

The politics around the filing

The Tribune notes that Altman and ChatGPT compete with Elon Musk's Grok, that Musk is funding Paxton's campaign for the US Senate, and that Texas has taken no action against Musk over Grok. Paxton is the Republican nominee. None of that proves motive, and the allegations stand or fall on the complaint's evidence. But a reader weighing the case should know that the plaintiff is an elected official with a race to win and a donor in the same industry as the defendant.

It also matters that Paxton opened earlier probes of AI chatbots. In August 2025 his office issued civil investigative demands to Meta AI Studio and Character.AI over whether they marketed chatbots as mental health tools. His statement then said: "In today's digital age, we must continue to fight to protect Texas kids from deceptive and exploitative technology." The new suit extends that line from companion-style apps to the biggest general-purpose chatbot.

What could actually happen

Three things are worth tracking, and none is decided by a filing.

• Venue and removal. OpenAI could try to move the case to federal court or challenge the state's authority to demand pre-release approval of a product sold nationwide. Expect motions before any ruling on the merits.
• The injunction. A court barring all minors from ChatGPT would be an unusual order. Florida asked for a temporary injunction on September 28, according to a Crypto Briefing summary, and as of mid-October that request had not been reported as granted.
• Settlement pressure. The Tribune says Paxton has sued or settled with several other platforms in the past year. Open litigation in two states is a business risk for OpenAI whatever the outcome.

For context on how regulators are already circling the company, see our report on the FTC's civil investigative demands to OpenAI and Anthropic. The Texas suit adds a state plaintiff with its own subpoena power and a different theory.

What the suit does not show

A complaint is an allegation. The Tribune's account does not describe evidence, and OpenAI has not yet answered in court. The suit's strongest facts, the deaths and the shooting, are drawn from Florida's earlier pleading, and each will need to be proven as causation in a courtroom, not in a press release. The age-verification gap that Florida alleged is a concrete, checkable product fact. The sweeping claims about addiction and the end of the world are rhetoric until tested.

Our take

The substance to watch is the remedy, not the adjectives. If a Texas court ever orders third-party approval of model releases, it will have done in one lawsuit what Congress has declined to do in several bills. We think that outcome is unlikely at the first hearing, and a narrower order on age assurance and parental controls is the realistic prize. The practical read for builders is simple: any consumer chatbot that reaches minors should assume state attorneys general will test its age gating, and should document it. We will update this piece when OpenAI files its response.