A Hawaii mother is suing OpenAI. She claims the company took valuable data from millions of young users without their consent. She is anonymous, and her children are 12 and 16.
The case is a proposed class action in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. It was filed on Tuesday, October 13, 2026. These are allegations only. No court has ruled on any of them.
OpenAI says the lawsuit is wrong. The company has also been hit with a second legal challenge the very next day, which we cover below.
Alleged Child Privacy Violations
The complaint says ChatGPT took sensitive data from millions of child users who signed up without parental consent. It also claims OpenAI designed ChatGPT to make children trust it and share deeply personal information, including health details.
The suit says OpenAI then used that data to train its large language models and build detailed profiles of children.
Key Details
- The age gate is the core issue. The complaint says a child only has to enter a name, say they are 13 or older, and click “Continue.”
- The data in question. The complaint says ChatGPT pulled out emotional insecurities, relationship worries and selfies. One summary of the filing also lists health worries and homework.
- Who could be covered. According to one summary, the proposed class is US users who accepted ChatGPT’s Terms of Use while under 18 and then shared data, from November 2022 to now.
- What the plaintiff wants. She asks the court to declare ChatGPT’s terms void for kids, give child users OpenAI stock or its cash value, return profits made from their data, and award punitive damages.
The equity demand is unusual. The complaint’s argument, in simple terms, is that kids’ chats helped build a company it describes as worth over $1 trillion. So the kids should share in that value.
Teen Privacy Concerns
If you have a teenager at home, chances are they have used ChatGPT. Kids ask AI about homework, health and friendships. The lawsuit asks whether a simple age checkbox is enough protection when the chats get that personal.
A supporter’s write-up of the case also points to a deeper problem. Once data trains an AI model, the argument goes, it cannot be removed from the model. Treat that as the plaintiffs’ framing, not a settled fact.
Official Statements
OpenAI pushed back hard. The company said it “strongly disagrees with this misguided lawsuit” and argued it unfairly singles out OpenAI. It also points to the age-specific protections it has built into ChatGPT.
Lead counsel Paul Yetter of Yetter Coleman is representing the family.
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OpenAI Faces Lawsuits
The timing makes this bigger. On Wednesday, eight states sued OpenAI, accusing it of deceiving parents about ChatGPT’s safety. The states are Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana.
Bloomberg Law called it a first-of-its-kind bipartisan effort. The attorneys general want OpenAI to hand over money it made while minors were harmed, and to stop making inaccurate statements about its safety practices.
The state cases are separate from the class action. Still, together they put children’s safety and data at the center of the AI debate in the US.
Final Thoughts
It is early. OpenAI has not yet answered in court, and the claims are untested. But two legal fronts opened within a day of each other, and both target how AI companies treat kids.
Whatever happens, expect tougher questions about age checks, parental consent and what happens to chat data. Parents may want to check what their kids share with AI apps in the meantime.
