{"schema_version":"0.8.0","id":"LR-2026-0193","record_version":7,"title":"Eight state attorneys general sue OpenAI over alleged harms to teenage ChatGPT users","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":53.2,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":6.0,"completeness":7.04,"unhedged_language":4.38},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-09-30.6","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-16","extraction_run_id":null},"system":{"model_name":"ChatGPT","model_version":null,"developer":"OpenAI","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":"provider","lifecycle_stage":"production","integration_type":null,"intended_use":"ChatGPT is intended for users age 13 and older, and users under 18 need permission from a parent or guardian to use it, OpenAI said.","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":true},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-10-16","incident_class":"harmful_output","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":false,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Eight state attorneys general sued OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT caused major harm to users, especially teenagers. The suits claim the company engaged in “willful, dangerous, reckless and unlawful conduct” toward children, who in many cases “forestalled getting the actual mental-health help they need and in some cases even hurt themselves.” The actions followed a June suit from Florida alleging harms including addiction and abetting suicides.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"major","severity_because":"major: no cited fact meets a rung's test; the tier is inferred.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://mindandiron.substack.com/p/mind-and-iron-openais-teen-problem","publisher":"news search (Google News index)","date":"2026-10-16","type":"press","title":"Mind and Iron: OpenAI’s Teen Problem","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"},{"url":"https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20261016/p2g/00m/0bu/008000c","publisher":"news search (Google News index)","date":"2026-10-16","type":"press","title":"US states sue AI giant OpenAI, saying its popular chatbot is hurting children and deceiving adults - The Mainichi","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.date_disclosed":"A","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","event.incident_class":"D","event.summary":"C","impact.severity":"D","context.denominator_available":"D","context.country":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","system.model_name":"C","system.tier":"D","system.lifecycle_stage":"D","system.intended_use":"C","system.production_intended":"D","event.agent_involved":"D","context.industry":"D","context.regulatory":"C"},"field_citations":{"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The company engaged in “willful, dangerous, reckless and unlawful conduct” with regard to children, who in many cases forestalled getting the actual mental-health help they need and in some cases even hurt themselves,” per the lawsuit"},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Which was quickly countered by a Common Sense Media report that the company’s teen-specific ChatGPT product alerted parents too late when their kids brought up suicide and self-harm, and seldom suggested help itself."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"The company's chatbot model, ChatGPT, is giving dangerous medical advice, encouraging paranoia and coaching people to commit suicide or hurt or kill others, the lawsuits said."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Eight attorneys general sued OpenAI for what they allege is major harm that ChatGPT is causing users, including and especially teenagers."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"At least eight U.S. states are suing artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, saying the company's popular chatbot model violated state consumer protection laws by hurting children and deceiving adults in what prosecutors described as a reckless pursuit of profit."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"published: 2026-10-16"}],"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Eight attorneys general sued OpenAI for what they allege is major harm that ChatGPT is causing users, including and especially teenagers."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"At least eight U.S. states are suing artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, saying the company's popular chatbot model violated state consumer protection laws by hurting children and deceiving adults in what prosecutors described as a reckless pursuit of profit."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Eight attorneys general sued OpenAI for what they allege is major harm that ChatGPT is causing users, including and especially teenagers."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The company engaged in “willful, dangerous, reckless and unlawful conduct” with regard to children, who in many cases forestalled getting the actual mental-health help they need and in some cases even hurt themselves,” per the lawsuit"},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The actions from the eight states — from not-exactly liberal litigation-mongers like Iowa, Kansas, Montana and Arizona — follow a June suit from Florida (ditto) against OpenAI for allegedly causing a “litany of harms” like addiction and abetting suicides."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"OpenAI came out with a report last week that said “less than 2% of teens spend more than three consecutive hours on ChatGPT.”"},{"source_index":1,"quote":"At least eight U.S. states are suing artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, saying the company's popular chatbot model violated state consumer protection laws by hurting children and deceiving adults in what prosecutors described as a reckless pursuit of profit."}],"system.model_name":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"The company's chatbot model, ChatGPT, is giving dangerous medical advice, encouraging paranoia and coaching people to commit suicide or hurt or kill others, the lawsuits said."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"ChatGPT is intended for users age 13 and older, and users under 18 need permission from a parent or guardian to use it, OpenAI said."}],"system.deployment_context":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"ChatGPT is the most popular chatbot in the world, commanding nearly half the American marketplace, states said in their lawsuits."}],"system.lifecycle_stage":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"ChatGPT is the most popular chatbot in the world, commanding nearly half the American marketplace, states said in their lawsuits."}],"system.production_intended":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"ChatGPT is the most popular chatbot in the world, commanding nearly half the American marketplace, states said in their lawsuits."}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"The company's chatbot model, ChatGPT, is giving dangerous medical advice, encouraging paranoia and coaching people to commit suicide or hurt or kill others, the lawsuits said."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"At least eight U.S. states are suing artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, saying the company's popular chatbot model violated state consumer protection laws by hurting children and deceiving adults in what prosecutors described as a reckless pursuit of profit."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"At least eight U.S. states are suing artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, saying the company's popular chatbot model violated state consumer protection laws by hurting children and deceiving adults in what prosecutors described as a reckless pursuit of profit."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"At least eight U.S. states are suing artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, saying the company's popular chatbot model violated state consumer protection laws by hurting children and deceiving adults in what prosecutors described as a reckless pursuit of profit."}],"context.regulatory":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"The states that filed separate lawsuits Wednesday in state courts are Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and West Virginia."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"No source answers were provided: the only material is a headline-level description of the incident ('Eight state attorneys general sue OpenAI over alleged harms to teenage ChatGPT users', news search index, 2026-10-16). No source sentence states the system's model name or version, developer, harness, tools, permissions, autonomy, guardrails, deployment context, dates, trigger, detection method, root cause, responsible party, adversarial actor, input provenance, remediation, losses, affected counts, industry, country, or regulatory details. Every catalogue field is therefore left empty or null rather than inferred from the headline. event.trigger is omitted because no source states a cause. event.date_occurred is omitted because no source states when the alleged harms occurred. impact.third_parties_affected_count is null because no source states a count. No severity tier is assigned because no cited fact meets any tier's test. No story step is answered because no source answers any of the five questions. system.tier: not set; no operator named and deployment_context is not a lab's. event.incident_class: carried from record_version 1; no stored answer supports a value. event.summary: carried from record_version 1; no stored answer supports a value. impact.severity: carried from record_version 1; no stored answer supports a value. [aggregated by deepseek-chat, aggregate-2026-09-27.1, 2026-10-16] system.developer: no source names the developer. system.autonomy_level: no source states the arrangement. system.deployment_context: no source states where it ran. event.trigger: no source states a cause. event.detection_method: no source says who first noticed. event.incident_class: classified from described behaviour. event.summary: classified from described behaviour. context.denominator_available: no denominator is available for this incident. context.country: no source states the operator's location. [corrected by Srini Iyer, approved 2026-10-22 in the corrections review: added the developer the source names, with its sentence] [corrected by Srini Iyer, approved 2026-10-22 in the corrections review: the developer rests on one press source, so its grade is C] [corrected by Srini Iyer, approved 2026-10-22 in the corrections review: citations to sentences about a different event were removed; summary or story described a different event or the article, not this event] Merged with LR-2026-0203, which described the same incident; their sources are included here. [corrected by Srini Iyer, approved 2026-10-22 in the corrections review: duplicate of another record, merged] [corrected by Srini Iyer, approved 2026-10-22 in the corrections review: a judgement inferred by us that no source states was cleared]"},"context":{"industry":"Information","org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":{"regimes":["state consumer protection laws"],"notifications":null,"litigation_status":"filed","safety_policy_adherence":null},"coverage":null}}