{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0760","record_version":1,"title":"Lawsuits allege OpenAI misused children's ChatGPT conversations and data","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":55.1,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":15.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":3.2,"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,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":2,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":true,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"cebfd5847c1d83aec57e9a4d664f3b8dc02ba2be2b8d3dd793178eab1a22a26f"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"OpenAI","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-10-13","incident_class":"privacy_leakage","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot is the subject of a proposed class action filed in California by a mother on behalf of her two children and other minors. The complaint alleges that the company used highly sensitive data from children's conversations to train large language models and build profiles of children without valid consent. The mother says her children signed up without parental permission. OpenAI's terms require users to be at least 13 and anyone under 18 to have parental permission, but the complaint challenges whether children can legally agree to those terms. The allegations remain unproven, as the case was just filed. The Independent reached out to OpenAI for comment, though the company does not typically comment on ongoing legal matters.","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 test: many third parties with a stated count of two or more; the complaint states millions of children were affected (allegation only)","harm_class":["privacy"],"affected_description":"Alleged: data of millions of children, per a proposed class action","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/openai-children-data-training-lawsuit-b3067229.html","publisher":"The Independent","date":"2026-10-15","type":"press","title":"OpenAI used children to train ChatGPT, lawsuit alleges - The Independent","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"},{"url":"https://www.legalexaminer.com/lestaffer/home-family/chatgpt-sued-over-childrens-personal-data/","publisher":"The Legal Examiner","date":"2026-10-16","type":"press","title":"ChatGPT Sued Over Children's Personal Data - The Legal Examiner","archived_url":null}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","event.date_disclosed":"C","event.incident_class":"C","impact.harm_class":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","context.country":"C","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"OpenAI is accused of exploiting children by using their private conversations with ChatGPT to train its AI models."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"A proposed class action filed against OpenAI on October 13, 2026, in California alleges that ChatGPT collects and profits from children's personal information without legally valid consent."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A proposed class action lawsuit by a mother of two in California accuses the AI company of using highly sensitive data from millions of children without consent."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A proposed class action lawsuit by a mother of two in California accuses the AI company of using highly sensitive data from millions of children without consent."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A proposed class action lawsuit by a mother of two in California accuses the AI company of using highly sensitive data from millions of children without consent."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A proposed class action lawsuit by a mother of two in California accuses the AI company of using highly sensitive data from millions of children without consent."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A proposed class action lawsuit by a mother of two in California accuses the AI company of using highly sensitive data from millions of children without consent."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A proposed class action lawsuit by a mother of two in California accuses the AI company of using highly sensitive data from millions of children without consent."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A proposed class action lawsuit by a mother of two in California accuses the AI company of using highly sensitive data from millions of children without consent."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"It then used that priceless trove of children’s information to train large language models, build detailed profiles of children, and enrich itself."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The anonymous mother says her 12-year-old and 16-year-old children signed up to ChatGPT without parental permission this year."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"It's important to note that the allegations in the children's data privacy lawsuit against ChatGPT remain unproven, as the case was just filed."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"OpenAI's terms of use require users to be at least 13 and anyone under 18 to have parental permission."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The Independent has reached out to OpenAI for comment on both lawsuits, though the company does not typically comment on ongoing legal matters."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"The sources describe a lawsuit with unproven allegations, not a confirmed incident; no autonomous agent is described, so agent and failure-class fields are omitted. Date of occurrence, model name and version, root cause, detection method, safeguard state and reversibility are not stated. Filing date (2026-10-13) is used as the disclosure date as the public record; press coverage is dated 2026-10-15. The severity of major is my judgement from the stated count of millions of children, which is an allegation. The 'Wednesday' filing of eight state lawsuits is a separate matter and excluded, as is the April 2025 GPT-4o sycophancy rollback. No OpenAI response is given. The August 2026 teen protections are not stated to be a remediation of this complaint, so no remediation is recorded. Control I4 is inferred from the stated age policy and its failure, which is my judgement. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"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":null,"coverage":null},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"OpenAI introduced additional ChatGPT for Teens protections","quote":"OpenAI introduced additional ChatGPT for Teens protections in August 2026.","source_index":1,"when":"2026-08"},{"text":"Proposed class action filed against OpenAI in California","quote":"A proposed class action filed against OpenAI on October 13, 2026, in California alleges that ChatGPT collects and profits from children's personal information without legally valid consent.","source_index":1,"when":"2026-10-13"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/openai-children-data-training-lawsuit-b3067229.html","https://www.legalexaminer.com/lestaffer/home-family/chatgpt-sued-over-childrens-personal-data/"]}}