A coalition of US state attorneys general has launched a sweeping investigation into OpenAI. According to a Wall Street Journal report, OpenAI was served on June 12 with a broad subpoena spearheaded by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The subpoena seeks documents related to a wide range of the company’s activities and their potential impact on users, including OpenAI’s advertising practices, user engagement and retention strategies, handling of consumer and health data, activities involving minors and seniors, use of deep learning models, model sycophancy, and internal company policies.
In a statement following the subpoena, an OpenAI spokesperson said, “AI is a new and powerful technology, and we work every day to safely bring its benefits to people in a responsible way. We take the concerns raised by state attorneys general seriously and intend to engage constructively with their offices.”
The investigation comes just five days after OpenAI revealed it had confidentially filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking to go public via an IPO that will reportedly value the company at up to $1 trillion. While the subpoena appears to be an information-gathering step rather than a formal accusation of wrongdoing, its breadth suggests state regulators are examining both OpenAI’s business practices and the safety risks associated with increasingly human-like AI systems.
The company is already facing real legal troubles elsewhere. Earlier this month, Florida officially sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, following a criminal inquiry launched in April 2026. The civil lawsuit, filed by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on June 1, accuses OpenAI of knowingly releasing and aggressively marketing ChatGPT to the public, including children, while allegedly concealing serious risks, suppressing internal safety warnings, and misleading users about the product’s dangers. Florida’s complaint claims the chatbot can facilitate harm, including self-harm and violence, while also alleging that OpenAI collects data from minors without meaningful parental oversight and has downplayed the risk of dangerous errors.
In addition to these concerns, the recent subpoena focuses on OpenAI’s handling of consumer and health-related data, a key issue given that users often share sensitive personal information with AI chatbots. Unlike traditional search engines, conversational AI systems can invite users to disclose medical concerns, emotional distress, financial details, family problems, or other private information during ordinary use.
The subpoena reflects a broader reckoning over a technology that has scaled faster than the legal frameworks meant to govern it. For now, the investigation is an information-gathering exercise rather than a finding of wrongdoing, and OpenAI has said it takes the attorneys general's concerns seriously and will cooperate with the investigation.
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