State Attorneys General Launch Investigation Into OpenAI, Subpoena Sought Over Advertising, Data Handling, and User Safety
By admin | Jun 13, 2026 | 2 min read
A coalition of state attorneys general has reportedly launched an investigation into OpenAI. The company received a subpoena from New York’s attorney general on Friday, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. That document demands information on a wide array of subjects, including the company’s advertising strategies, user engagement and retention metrics, model sycophancy, handling of consumer and health data, and treatment of both minors and seniors. An OpenAI spokesperson told the WSJ that the company is cooperating with the probe. “AI is a new and powerful technology, and we work every day to safely bring its benefits to people in a responsible way,” the representative stated. “We take the concerns raised by state attorneys general seriously and intend to engage constructively with their offices.”
According to Bloomberg, the spokesperson also noted that ChatGPT now “includes a more protective experience for minors and people experiencing difficult situations, with safeguards that direct them to real-world resources and trusted human contacts.” The company declined to specify which states are involved in the investigation or to share further details about the information requested. OpenAI recently prevailed in a high-profile trial against its co-founder Elon Musk, who had accused the company of violating its founding agreement. (Musk’s lead attorney has indicated they will appeal the decision.)
However, OpenAI still faces multiple lawsuits, ranging from allegations of copyright infringement to claims that ChatGPT played a role in a suicide. Earlier this month, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, asserting that they “ignored internal and external safety warnings, put children at great risk, and allowed a dangerous product to reach millions of Floridians.”
Altman recently apologized to the community of Tumbler Ridge, Canada, following a mass shooting; he acknowledged that OpenAI failed to alert law enforcement after the company flagged and banned the suspected shooter’s ChatGPT account. The company announced this week that it has filed confidentially to go public.
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