OpenAI Under Probe
U.S. State Attorneys General Reportedly Investigate OpenAI Over Activities and User Impact
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A coalition of U.S. state attorneys general has opened a sweeping investigation into OpenAI, serving the company with a broad subpoena seeking documents about its activities and impact on users, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The move transforms what began as a single-state probe into a full multistate enforcement action — and comes just days after OpenAI quietly filed for an IPO targeting a $1 trillion valuation.
OpenAI said it takes the concerns "seriously" and plans to "engage constructively" with the attorneys general, according to Reuters. But the timing could not be worse for a company carrying projected 2026 losses of between $25 billion and $26 billion while racing toward a public stock offering.
How a Campus Shooting Sparked a National Legal Fight
The investigation traces back to April 17, 2025, when a gunman killed two people at Florida State University. Investigators found that shooter Phoenix Ikner had been in "constant communication" with ChatGPT before the attack, according to Gizmodo. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier launched a probe within the year, then escalated it to a criminal investigation by April 21, 2026, asking whether OpenAI bears "criminal responsibility" for the shooting.
Uthmeier did not mince words. He said, "If ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder." On June 1, 2026, Florida filed a first-of-its-kind civil lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging deceptive practices and public nuisance. That single-state action has now grown into a multistate coalition subpoena, according to Yahoo Finance.
Subpoena Lands Four Days After OpenAI's Secret IPO Filing
On June 8, 2026, OpenAI confidentially filed an S-1 with the SEC — the document companies submit before going public — targeting a valuation of $1 trillion, Reuters reported. The company was last valued at $852 billion after a March 2026 funding round that raised $122 billion. Then, just four days later, the multistate subpoena landed.
Analysts say the probe is a "colossal reality check" for AI investors. OpenAI reported roughly $20 billion in 2025 revenue, but its losses are expected to exceed that figure in 2026 due to massive computing costs. Investor appetite for a trillion-dollar IPO may cool sharply if the legal fight drags into its public debut.
States Are Filling a Gap Left by Federal Inaction on AI
There is no comprehensive federal AI law in the United States. That gap has pushed state attorneys general to act on their own. They are using consumer protection laws — like Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act — to hold AI companies accountable, according to MarketScreener. A previous coalition of 42 state AGs had already demanded AI safeguards from tech companies in December 2025.
Legal experts compare the effort to the multistate tobacco and opioid settlements, where state coalitions became the main regulatory force against powerful industries. Critics claim OpenAI suppressed internal safety warnings to speed up product launches — a charge at the heart of the June 1 Florida lawsuit. OpenAI has denied prioritizing profit over safety.
What Investigators Are Looking For — and What Could Change
The subpoena is described as "sweeping" and seeks documents about OpenAI's activities and its impact on users, particularly minors, according to Reuters. Canadian privacy regulators separately found in May 2026 that OpenAI violated federal and provincial privacy laws by scraping personal data without valid consent. That ruling added international pressure to the growing domestic legal fight.
If the state coalition wins, OpenAI could be forced to add strict parental controls, age-verification tools, and automatic stops for conversations involving self-harm or violence. OpenAI serves over 900 million weekly active users and 50 million paying subscribers. Any major product changes at that scale would reshape how hundreds of millions of people interact with AI every day.
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