OpenAI investigation: what state AGs subpoenaed

OpenAI is under investigation by a coalition of state AGs

A state attorney general is the chief legal officer of a U.S. state and can investigate businesses on behalf of its residents. In June 2026, a group of them opened an investigation into OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.

The OpenAI subpoena was reported on June 12, 2026

A subpoena is a legal order to hand over documents. The Wall Street Journal reported on June 12 that a coalition of state attorneys general had opened an investigation and served OpenAI with one. The states themselves have announced neither the subpoena nor the coalition's size.

AP described the senders only as "several states." It emailed a dozen state attorneys general for details the next day and received no replies.

OpenAI says it takes the states' concerns seriously

OpenAI answered the same day. In a statement, the company said it takes the attorneys general's concerns seriously and intends to work constructively with their offices. It did not name the states involved or describe the request in more detail.

The OpenAI subpoena seeks records in four reported areas

The four areas come from press reports, and CNBC adds that the subpoena covers other activities as well. The states have not published the subpoena, so the full list is not public.

Ads, consumer data and health data are on the list

Two of the reported areas concern how OpenAI runs ChatGPT as a business. The states want records on how OpenAI approaches advertising and what it does with consumer data and health data.

Which of the four areas matters most to the investigators has not been reported. A broad request like this is still part of gathering evidence and says nothing yet about a violation.

OpenAI sycophancy came up in a December 2025 state letter

The other two areas are ChatGPT's youngest and oldest users and the models themselves. Sycophancy, a chatbot's tendency to agree with you and say what you want to hear even when that is not true or safe, was not among the reported subpoena areas. It had already come up six months earlier in a letter from state attorneys general.

On December 10, 2025, New York Attorney General Letitia James and 41 other attorneys general wrote to 13 companies. They asked the companies to report publicly where their AI models could produce biased, sycophantic or delusional answers, and which datasets might cause that. A letter of this kind asks; it cannot compel.

The OpenAI investigation followed months of state warnings

States had been warning AI companies about chatbots and children since August 2025. The subpoena turned those warnings into a formal demand.

States began warning OpenAI about child safety in 2025

On August 25, 2025, a bipartisan group of 44 attorneys general sent a letter through their national association (NAAG) to the chief executives of leading AI companies. The recipients included OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, xAI and Perplexity AI. The letter pointed to press reports of chatbots having sexually suggestive or emotionally manipulative conversations with minors, though it proposed no enforcement action.

On September 5, the attorneys general of California and Delaware, Rob Bonta and Kathy Jennings, said they had met with OpenAI and written to its board. Bonta's office was already reviewing OpenAI's planned financial and governance restructuring. The December letter from New York and 41 other attorneys general followed three months later.

Florida's OpenAI lawsuit and criminal investigation

Florida went further than a letter. On June 1, 2026, Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, calling it the first state-led lawsuit of its kind in the country. The 83-page complaint was filed in Florida's Tenth Judicial Circuit and relies on the state's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

It accuses OpenAI of marketing ChatGPT to the public, children included, while concealing serious risks and suppressing internal safety warnings. It also says ChatGPT collects data from minors without meaningful parental oversight. These are the state's allegations, not findings by a court.

The month before the lawsuit, Florida's statewide prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation after reviewing the ChatGPT chat logs of the gunman in the April 17, 2025, shooting at Florida State University. Families have also filed their own suits. For one such case, see ChatGPT medical advice lawsuit: what OpenAI faces.

The subpoena came four days after OpenAI filed for an IPO

OpenAI said on June 8, 2026, that it had filed confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering. The subpoena was reported four days later, on June 12.

The states have not said whether the timing has anything to do with the listing. AP noted only that the probe arrived as OpenAI prepares to sell stock to the public for the first time, so for now the only link between the two is timing.

For ChatGPT users, the investigation changes nothing yet

The subpoena itself does not change how ChatGPT works. OpenAI has to act differently only if a settlement or a court order requires it.

A subpoena is a request for records, not a verdict

When the subpoena was reported, the states had not accused OpenAI of breaking the law in this probe. A subpoena gathers documents so investigators can decide whether it did.

State action against a company usually moves from letters to an investigation, then to a lawsuit and finally to a settlement or court order. This probe is at the investigation stage, and as of September 1, 2026, no ruling, settlement or order had been announced.

OpenAI cites age prediction and ChatGPT parental controls

In its statement, OpenAI said ChatGPT already gives minors and people going through a hard time a more protective experience that points them to real-world help. It listed three measures: age prediction, parental tools and a ban on ads that target children.

If children in your home use ChatGPT, the parental controls are the part you can act on now. For a breakdown of the teen protections, see ChatGPT for Teens: Age Prediction and Study Mode.