Texas Sues OpenAI and Sam Altman, Asking a Court to Keep Minors Off ChatGPT and Vet New Models

Texas is now the second state in ten days to take OpenAI to court over ChatGPT and children, and its filing asks for the most intrusive remedy so far. Most headlines led with "Texas wants kids off ChatGPT". The less noticed request is that a court-appointed evaluator sign off on any new OpenAI model before Texans can use it.

What the petition says

• Court: Collin County district court, filed Friday 23 October 2026. The case is designated Level 3 for discovery, so the court will set its own discovery plan.
• Defendants: OpenAI Global, LLC and affiliated entities, plus Sam Altman personally.
• Laws: the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, sections 17.46(a), (b) and (c), and the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, sections 509.051, 509.052, 509.054 and 509.101.
• Core claim: OpenAI marketed ChatGPT as safe and reliable while concealing risks, including inaccurate answers, addiction, encouragement of self-harm or violence, collection of children's data without parental oversight, and weaker critical thinking among users.
• Lawyers: the state is using outside counsel, including Ashley Keller and Tony Buzbee.

What Texas is asking the court to order

How it fits with the other cases

• 14 October 2026: Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes sued OpenAI in Maricopa County Superior Court under the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, alleging ChatGPT was built to be "uniquely sycophantic" and exposed minors to undisclosed harms. OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri pointed to its age-specific protections, parental controls and break reminders.
• 23 October 2026: Texas files, adding Altman as a named defendant and asking for pre-release review of models, which Arizona's filing, as reported, does not.
• Paxton's office has used the same consumer protection approach in the past year against Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Roblox, suing or settling with each.

The Texas Tribune also notes that Elon Musk is backing Paxton's US Senate campaign and that Texas has taken no action over xAI's Grok, which has faced criticism over deepfake imagery. California's attorney general has opened an investigation into Grok.

What this means if you use ChatGPT or pick AI tools for others

• Nothing changes today. This is a petition, not a ruling, and no hearing date has been reported.
• Schools and parents in Texas should watch the injunction request, since it would apply to every minor in the state if granted.
• The evaluator request is the part with industry-wide stakes. If a court accepted it, other states could ask for the same review of new models from any vendor.
• If your organisation chooses tools for under-18 users, check each vendor's age controls and parental settings now rather than waiting for a ruling.