# Eight States Sued OpenAI. Should My Teen Still Use ChatGPT? **Author:** Dan Fitzpatrick **Canonical URL:** https://parents.theaieducator.io/posts/states-sue-openai-chatgpt-what-parents-should-do **Published:** 2026-10-18T07:19:45.000Z **Updated:** 2026-10-18T07:19:47.805Z **Category:** News and Updates ## TL;DR On October 14, 2026, attorneys general in eight US states announced lawsuits accusing OpenAI of misleading families about ChatGPT's safety for children. These are allegations in state courts, not findings, and OpenAI has not accepted them. Nothing in them changes what your child's account can do tonight. Check which age category the account holds, link it and set quiet hours, and ask your child how they use it. Linking is not supervision: OpenAI says parents cannot read a teen's conversations. Your school's rules and a doctor's advice come first. ## Key takeaways - Eight states (Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and West Virginia) announced consumer-protection lawsuits against OpenAI on October 14, 2026. They are allegations that OpenAI misdescribed ChatGPT's safety, not court findings. - Nothing in the announcements changes what your child's account can do tonight: check Settings, then Account, then Age, link the accounts and set quiet hours. - OpenAI's own help pages say parental controls do not let a parent read a teen's conversations, and that safety notifications are not real-time monitoring. - Use the Claim Check on any frightening headline: who is making the claim, what it rests on, and what changes in your house if it is true. - If the worry is about your own child rather than the news, use 988 in the US, Samaritans on 116 123 or Childline on 0800 1111 in the UK, your child's doctor, or the school's safeguarding lead. ## Article On October 14, 2026, attorneys general in eight US states announced lawsuits accusing OpenAI of misleading families about whether ChatGPT is safe for children. These are allegations, not findings, and OpenAI has not accepted them. Nothing in them changes what your child's account can do tonight, so the useful move is the same as last week: check the account, link it, and ask your child how they use it. If your worry tonight is about your own child rather than the news, call or text 988 in the US. In the UK, Samaritans is 116 123 and Childline is 0800 1111. Your child's doctor and your school's designated safeguarding lead can also act on what you tell them, though none of them can promise secrecy. A chatbot is not a clinician and should not be asked to act like one. > **A lawsuit tells you what a state believes. Your child's account settings tell you what your house has. Only one of those is yours to change tonight.** ## What did the eight states actually announce? Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and West Virginia, according to [coverage of the announcement](https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/iowa-attorney-general-brenna-bird-other-ags-move-sue-openai-state-courts) on October 14, 2026. The suits are separate, each in its own state court and each under that state's own consumer-protection law. Coverage differs on how far each filing has progressed, so I am relying on what the attorneys general's own offices say. The core claim is the same in the releases I read. The attorneys general say OpenAI told the public ChatGPT was safe and put safety first, while the product was built to agree with users and sound compassionate in ways that could harm vulnerable people, children included. [Arizona](https://www.azag.gov/press-release/attorney-general-mayes-announces-lawsuit-against-openai-deceiving-arizonans-about) goes further and alleges ChatGPT encourages minors to share personal information with the chatbot and sometimes discourages them from telling parents, family, friends or authorities. [Montana](https://dojmt.gov/attorney-general-knudsen-files-lawsuit-against-openai-for-endangering-children-and-teens/) and [Arkansas](https://arkansasag.gov/news-release/attorney-general-griffin-sues-openai-for-misleading-arkansans-over-safety-of-chatgpt/) add claims about children's data: Montana says there is no mechanism for parental consent and no age verification, and Arkansas cites its children's privacy law and asks for civil penalties, restitution and clearer disclosure of risks. [Nebraska](https://ago.nebraska.gov/news/attorney-general-hilgers-announces-lawsuit-against-openai-deceiving-nebraskans-about-safety) says OpenAI markets ChatGPT as safe for minors despite flaws it links to serious harm. [Iowa](https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/newsroom/attorney-general-brenna-bird-announces-lawsuit-against-openai-for-deceiving-iowa-parents-and-iowans) led the joint announcement. Some of the complaints describe individual cases involving teenagers. I am not retelling them here. The families did not choose this audience, and the cases are for the courts. OpenAI's response, as carried in [the Associated Press report](https://www.wtoc.com/2026/10/15/states-sue-ai-giant-openai-saying-chatgpt-is-hurting-children-deceiving-adults/), is that it has built safety protections for children into ChatGPT and will keep improving them. I could not find a fuller statement from the company, and I have not seen the complaints themselves. ## Does this mean ChatGPT is unsafe for my child? It means eight states believe OpenAI misdescribed the risks, and a court will now test that. That is different from a finding that your child is in danger, and it is different from evidence about what the product does. Evidence of the second kind arrived a week earlier. On October 7, 2026, Common Sense Media's Youth AI Safety Institute [rated ChatGPT for Teens an "Unacceptable Risk"](https://institute.commonsensemedia.org/risk-assessments/chatgpt-teens) after testing it between July 13 and September 28. In its dedicated test of more than a dozen newly linked parent and teen accounts, no safety notification arrived after up to 60 minutes of crisis-level conversation, and across its whole crisis battery four notifications arrived in total. OpenAI told the Institute that parent and teen accounts must be linked for about three hours before notifications can be sent; the Institute checked and says it stands by its reading. The Institute is part of Common Sense Media, which campaigns on child safety, and says it is funded by philanthropy and by industry, including makers of some technologies it evaluates. I covered that assessment in full in [is ChatGPT for Teens safe](https://parents.theaieducator.io/posts/is-chatgpt-for-teens-safe). Here is how I would read the two together, and this part is my interpretation rather than anyone's finding. The lawsuits are about what OpenAI said. The Institute's testing is about what the product did. Neither shows what happens in your house, which depends on the account, the child and the conversations around it. For scale, the Pew Research Center surveyed 1,458 US teens aged 13 to 17 between September 25 and October 9, 2025. [About three in ten said they use chatbots daily](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2026/02/24/how-teens-use-and-view-ai/), 54 percent had used them for schoolwork, and 12 percent had used them for emotional support or advice. Those are shares of all US teens in that survey, and the survey shows use, not harm. ## The Claim Check **The Claim Check: before a headline changes what happens at home, ask three things: who is making the claim, what it rests on, and what changes in my house if it is true.** Run it on this week. Who: state attorneys general, who are advocates in litigation by definition. What it rests on: complaints that I have not read in full and that OpenAI disputes. What changes if it is true: the settings below matter more than they did, and nothing else on your phone has moved. A calm "nothing urgent changes tonight, and here is what to check" is a legitimate answer to a frightening headline. ## What do OpenAI's own pages say today? I read OpenAI's help pages on October 18, 2026, to compare what the suits allege with what the company says it offers. | The allegation or worry | What OpenAI's pages say today | What it means at home | |---|---|---| | Parents cannot see what a teen is told | [Parental controls](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12315553-parental-controls-on-chatgpt) do not give a parent access to a teen's conversations. Safety notifications "are not real-time monitoring" and may take "up to a few hours" to begin after linking. | Linking is worth doing for quiet hours and study hours. It is not supervision. | | Age is not checked | The [ChatGPT for Teens page](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001421-chatgpt-for-teens) says accounts are placed in the teen experience when account-provided age, verified age or age prediction indicates under 18. The Age setting "does not let you edit your date of birth." | The category on the account matters more than your child's real birthday. Check it. | | Children under 13 have accounts | OpenAI's [terms of use](https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use/), effective January 1, 2026, say users must be at least 13 or the minimum age in their country, and under-18s need a parent or guardian's permission. | Under 13 means no account. Age on sign-up is self-declared. | ## What I See in Schools The pattern I see most often in the week after a story like this is a wave of emails to the school from parents asking whether ChatGPT is allowed, and a school that cannot answer, because its policy covers the tools it provides and says nothing about the personal accounts students use at home. The parent assumes the school has handled it. The school assumes the family has. The gap between those two assumptions is where most of the real risk sits. Parents raise it at parent-teacher conferences (parents' evening in the UK) and get a shrug. If you want the questions that close it, [ten questions to ask your child's school about AI](https://parents.theaieducator.io/posts/questions-to-ask-your-childs-school-about-ai) is the list I would send. ## What should I do this week, by age? Do these three things, in this order, whatever your child's age. 1. **Check which account they are in.** On their own account, go to Settings, then Account, then Age. If it shows an adult category for a child, the teen safeguards are not running. [The full setup is here](https://parents.theaieducator.io/posts/chatgpt-parental-controls). 2. **Link the accounts and set quiet hours** from bedtime to breakfast, then treat the link as a backstop, not as cover. 3. **Have the conversation.** Not "did you see the news" but "what do you use it for?" **Under 8.** Not a question about ChatGPT. If a young child meets a chatbot at all, it should be beside you. **8 to 12.** Below OpenAI's age floor, so any account was set up with a false birthday. Fix it together, calmly. [The age rules across the main chatbots](https://parents.theaieducator.io/posts/can-kids-use-chatgpt) vary more than most parents expect. > **You could say:** "There's been news about ChatGPT and kids. I'm not cross about the account. I'd like us to look at what birthday is in it, together, because that's what decides what it says to you." **13 to 15.** The band the suits and the Institute's testing are about. Link, set quiet hours, and ask what it gets used for. If it has started to be used for feelings rather than homework, [this is the piece to read next](https://parents.theaieducator.io/posts/my-teen-talks-to-ai-about-feelings). > **You could say:** "I can't read your chats, and I've checked. I'd like to know what you use it for, and I'd like you to tell me if it ever says something that doesn't sit right." **16 to 18.** Monitoring is mostly over by now. What is left is honesty about the product, including that a company can be accused of overselling its safety. > **You could say:** "Use it for what it's good at. Just don't make it the only place you work out how you feel." ## What none of this can guarantee No setting tells you reliably that your child is in trouble, and a lawsuit does not either. The account controls govern one signed-in account, so a logged-out browser or a different chatbot sits outside them, and age on sign-up is self-declared everywhere. [What ChatGPT keeps about your child](https://parents.theaieducator.io/posts/what-data-does-chatgpt-collect-about-my-child) explains the data side. Where your school's rules, a doctor's advice or a safeguarding lead's guidance differ from anything here, follow theirs. They know your child and I do not. If any of this is live in your house rather than theoretical, the routes again: 988 in the US, Samaritans on 116 123 and Childline on 0800 1111 in the UK, your child's doctor, and the school's designated safeguarding lead. ## What should I watch next? Three things. Whether OpenAI files a substantive response in any of the eight courts, because that is where its account of the product will first be tested. Whether more states join, since these announcements were not a single joint filing. And whether independent testing shows the parent safety notifications firing reliably, which is the one development that would change my read of the product regardless of how the cases go. The [Character.AI bankruptcy](https://parents.theaieducator.io/posts/character-ai-bankruptcy-what-parents-should-do), where states are seeking protections for children's data, is a separate matter, and I have not seen a link between the two. If your child's school has not yet spoken to parents about AI, [this is the work I do with schools](https://theaieducator.io/ai-training-for-schools?utm_source=parents.theaieducator.io&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=states-sue-openai-chatgpt-what-parents-should-do): training staff so that the answer to "is ChatGPT allowed" exists before a parent has to ask. It is worth forwarding to your principal (head teacher in the UK). I also write a Sunday [newsletter](https://theaieducator.io/?utm_source=parents.theaieducator.io&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=states-sue-openai-chatgpt-what-parents-should-do#newsletter) that follows stories like this one without the panic. Parents are very welcome. *Dan Fitzpatrick is a former teacher and assistant headteacher, a Forbes contributor and the founder of The AI Educator. [Read Dan's story](https://theaieducator.io/about?utm_source=parents.theaieducator.io&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=states-sue-openai-chatgpt-what-parents-should-do).* ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Should I delete my child's ChatGPT account because of the lawsuits? Not because of the lawsuits alone. They are allegations, and deleting an account often leads to a new one you cannot see, sometimes with a false birthday that removes the teen protections. A better first step is to check which age category the account holds, link it, and talk about how your child uses it. If your child is struggling with their mood or safety, a conversation and a professional matter more than any settings change. ### Can I report a problem with ChatGPT to my state attorney general? Yes, in general. Most state attorneys general run a consumer-protection complaint process. Arizona's announcement, for example, invites anyone who believes they or their child were victims of consumer fraud or unfair practices to file a complaint at azag.gov/consumer. Check your own state's attorney general site for the equivalent, and keep screenshots with dates. ### Are other chatbots being sued too? Character.AI has its own separate situation: it filed for bankruptcy this month, and states are seeking protections for children's data in that case. I have not seen a link between that and the eight OpenAI suits. The age rules and controls differ by app, so check each one your child uses rather than assuming one answer covers all. ### What should I say to my teenager about the news? Keep it short and curious rather than alarmed. You could say: "There's been news about ChatGPT and kids. I'm not checking up on you. I'd like to know what you use it for, and I'd like you to tell me if it ever says something that doesn't sit right." Then listen. If your child has been using it for feelings rather than homework, take that conversation slowly, and involve their doctor or the school's safeguarding lead if you are worried. ### Will parent-teacher conferences cover this? Only if you ask. Many schools have a policy for the AI tools they provide and nothing yet about the personal accounts students use at home. At a parent-teacher conference (parents' evening in the UK), ask who decided which AI tools are allowed, who a student's worrying chat would reach, and what staff have been trained to do.