{"schema_version":"0.9.0","id":"LR-2026-0252","record_version":3,"title":"Texas AG sues OpenAI and Altman over ChatGPT age verification, child access and reliability claims","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":52.5,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":6.0,"completeness":5.76,"unhedged_language":5.0},"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,"record_integrity":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-28","extraction_run_id":null},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"OpenAI","harness":"ChatGPT","tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"production","tier":"provider","lifecycle_stage":"production","integration_type":null,"intended_use":"ChatGPT is a general chatbot used for all sorts of conversations, including private and confidential ones.","safeguard_state":"The free version of ChatGPT has no gatekeeping or age verification mechanism whatsoever; the paid tier nominally asks users to provide their age but there is no mechanism to verify the age of its users.","production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-10-27","incident_class":"harmful_output","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":false,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman in Collin County court under the DTPA and SCOPE Act, alleging ChatGPT offers content unsuitable for children without age verification or parental consent.","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, because a regulator involved: A state attorney general has sued the provider, meeting the major rung's regulator-involved test.","harm_class":["operational"],"affected_description":"Texas minors using ChatGPT and Texans' sensitive data","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://reclaimthenet.org/texas-sues-openai-over-chatgpt-age-verification","publisher":"Reclaim The Net","date":"2026-10-27","type":"press","title":"Texas Sues OpenAI Over Lack of Digital ID Age Checks","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"},{"url":"https://www.shacknews.com/article/151152/texas-openai-chatgpt-lawsuit","publisher":"shacknews.com","date":"2026-10-26","type":"press","title":"Texas is suing OpenAI over ChatGPT safety regulations","archived_url":null,"attachment":"fingerprint"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.harness":"C","system.tier":"D","system.lifecycle_stage":"D","system.intended_use":"C","system.safeguard_state":"C","system.developer":"C","system.deployment_context":"D","system.autonomy_level":"D","event.agent_involved":"D","event.summary":"C","event.incident_class":"D","event.date_disclosed":"A","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","impact.harm_class":"D","impact.affected_description":"D","impact.severity":"D","context.industry":"D","context.regulatory":"C","context.denominator_available":"D","context.country":"D","impact.severity_because":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is at it again with calls for age verification digital ID checks, this time suing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman in a district court over the way the company’s chatbot is designed and functions."}],"system.harness":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The petition states that “The free version of ChatGPT has no gatekeeping or age verification mechanism whatsoever.”"}],"system.deployment_context":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"According to the filing, ChatGPT has “tens of thousands of users who are under 13 years of age” in Texas, and it cites a Common Sense Media line that “ChatGPT should be for adults only.”"}],"system.lifecycle_stage":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The petition states that “The free version of ChatGPT has no gatekeeping or age verification mechanism whatsoever.”"}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"But it does ask the court to approve or reject new versions of the chatbot, which is used for all sorts of conversations, including those that are private and confidential."}],"system.safeguard_state":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The paid tier, it continues, “nominally asks users to provide their age” but “there is no mechanism to verify the age of its users.”"}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"According to the petition, OpenAI is accused of “designing, offering, and maintaining a dangerous product that provides content unsuitable for children without requiring any age verification.”"}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The petition states that “The free version of ChatGPT has no gatekeeping or age verification mechanism whatsoever.”"}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The lawsuit, filed in Collin County on Friday, wants the court to issue an injunction that would force OpenAI to implement age verification on ChatGPT users."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The lawsuit, filed in Collin County on Friday, wants the court to issue an injunction that would force OpenAI to implement age verification on ChatGPT users."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The lawsuit, filed in Collin County on Friday, wants the court to issue an injunction that would force OpenAI to implement age verification on ChatGPT users."}],"context.regulatory":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The claims against OpenAI and Altman are made under the Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act (DTPA) and the SCOPE Act."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"According to the petition, OpenAI is accused of “designing, offering, and maintaining a dangerous product that provides content unsuitable for children without requiring any age verification.”"}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The lawsuit, filed in Collin County on Friday, wants the court to issue an injunction that would force OpenAI to implement age verification on ChatGPT users."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"According to the filing, ChatGPT has “tens of thousands of users who are under 13 years of age” in Texas, and it cites a Common Sense Media line that “ChatGPT should be for adults only.”"}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The lawsuit, filed in Collin County on Friday, wants the court to issue an injunction that would force OpenAI to implement age verification on ChatGPT users."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"published: 2026-10-27"}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Single press source; no primary filing text. event.date_occurred, event.trigger, event.detection_method, event.root_cause, event.failure_class, system.autonomy_level, system.tools_granted, system.permissions_scope, system.model_version, impact.direct_loss_usd, impact.records_exposed and impact.third_parties_affected_count are not stated. event.date_disclosed derived from 'filed in Collin County on Friday' relative to the 2026-10-27 article date (2026-10-23), a judgement. incident_class coded harmful_output from the petition's allegation of content unsuitable for children; no specific output is described. harm_class 'operational' is a weak inference from the injunction sought. story.caught left null: the source does not say who first noticed. No agentic mechanism, so failure_class null. system.tier: provider by rule (the developer is named as the operator). [aggregated by deepseek-chat, aggregate-2026-09-27.1, 2026-10-28] system.lifecycle_stage: production. system.deployment_context: serving customers or internal users. system.autonomy_level: no source states the arrangement. event.agent_involved: classified from described behaviour. event.incident_class: classified from described behaviour. event.trigger: no source states a cause. event.detection_method: no source says who first noticed. impact.harm_class: classified from described behaviour. impact.affected_description: classified from described behaviour. context.industry: classified from described behaviour. context.denominator_available: no denominator is available for this incident. context.country: classified from described behaviour. [2026-10-28: source attached: https://www.shacknews.com/article/151152/texas-openai-chatgpt-lawsuit (fingerprint); The report describes the same Texas Attorney General lawsuit against OpenAI over ChatGPT safety and access for minors as LR-2026-0252.]"},"context":{"industry":"Information","org_size_band":null,"country":"US","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":{"regimes":["Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act (DTPA)","SCOPE Act"],"notifications":null,"litigation_status":"filed","safety_policy_adherence":null},"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"ChatGPT, OpenAI's consumer chatbot, served Texas users, including tens of thousands under 13, with no age verification on the free tier and only a nominal age prompt on the paid tier.","quote":"The petition states that “The free version of ChatGPT has no gatekeeping or age verification mechanism whatsoever.”","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"Texas alleges OpenAI offered a dangerous product providing content unsuitable for children without age verification or parental consent, and misrepresented reliability, violating the DTPA and SCOPE Act.","quote":"According to the petition, OpenAI is accused of “designing, offering, and maintaining a dangerous product that provides content unsuitable for children without requiring any age verification.”","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The petition says ChatGPT has tens of thousands of under-13 users in Texas and collects sensitive data on Texans' health, finances, relationships and children.","quote":"According to the filing, ChatGPT has “tens of thousands of users who are under 13 years of age” in Texas, and it cites a Common Sense Media line that “ChatGPT should be for adults only.”","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"Nothing contained yet; Texas seeks an injunction requiring age verification, parental consent, court-approved third-party safety review before new model releases, and $10,000 per violation. OpenAI said it will work with Texas on AI policy.","quote":"Another order Texas wants is to prevent OpenAI from releasing any new model to its users in that state “unless an independent third-party evaluator, approved by the Court, has reviewed its safety guardrails and approved its release.”","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"deepseek-chat","prompt_version":"aggregate-2026-09-27.1","extracted_at":"2026-10-28","source_urls":["https://reclaimthenet.org/texas-sues-openai-over-chatgpt-age-verification"]}}