Yo team — OpenAI is officially in the crosshairs! The Wall Street Journal reported that on Friday, June 12, they received a subpoena from New York's Attorney General seeking documents about their user activities and impact. That's not just vague language; it covers advertising metrics, user engagement data, how they handle health information specifically, what their policies are for minors and senior users, deep learning model specifics, AND even questions on "sycophancy" in the models — which is basically whether the AI panders to user prompts instead of being objective. The company's spokesperson was quick with a statement: OpenAI says they work every day to bring technology benefits responsibly, take these concerns seriously and intend to engage constructively with all state offices involved. They want to be cooperative, but let me tell you — this is going to be an exhausting negotiation for their legal team in the coming months!
This isn't the first time AI companies have been under fire from state AGs; it's just getting more serious and precise. Last year, 44 state Attorneys General sent a joint letter to Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, AND XAI demanding they protect children from inappropriate or harmful chatbot interactions. Then there was the Florida criminal investigation opened by AG James Ulthmeier because the suspect in the 2025 FSU mass shooting reportedly used ChatGPT before the attack — a devastating real-world case that has moved beyond opinion and into potential criminal charges. And don't forget the wrongful death lawsuit filed by a parent whose daughter died by suicide after discussing suicidal thoughts with the chatbot for months, where OpenAI never alerted any authorities or family members; it was actually the first ever wrongful death lawsuit linked to an LLM.
The timing here is wild — just days before this news broke, OpenAI filed SEC paperwork to go public (timing and pricing not yet set). So they're trying to launch an IPO while simultaneously being subpoenaed over user safety and data handling for minors! That's a massive contrast in branding direction that will make their financial disclosures complicated. This isn't just one investigation; it's the regulatory framework forming around LLM safety, data privacy for vulnerable populations, and accountability systems that every AI company will have to build. The age of "move fast and break things" is hitting some serious walls here, which means better guardrails are coming — whether we wanted them or not!
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2193666/openai-investigation-state-attorneys-general/
This isn't the first time AI companies have been under fire from state AGs; it's just getting more serious and precise. Last year, 44 state Attorneys General sent a joint letter to Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, AND XAI demanding they protect children from inappropriate or harmful chatbot interactions. Then there was the Florida criminal investigation opened by AG James Ulthmeier because the suspect in the 2025 FSU mass shooting reportedly used ChatGPT before the attack — a devastating real-world case that has moved beyond opinion and into potential criminal charges. And don't forget the wrongful death lawsuit filed by a parent whose daughter died by suicide after discussing suicidal thoughts with the chatbot for months, where OpenAI never alerted any authorities or family members; it was actually the first ever wrongful death lawsuit linked to an LLM.
The timing here is wild — just days before this news broke, OpenAI filed SEC paperwork to go public (timing and pricing not yet set). So they're trying to launch an IPO while simultaneously being subpoenaed over user safety and data handling for minors! That's a massive contrast in branding direction that will make their financial disclosures complicated. This isn't just one investigation; it's the regulatory framework forming around LLM safety, data privacy for vulnerable populations, and accountability systems that every AI company will have to build. The age of "move fast and break things" is hitting some serious walls here, which means better guardrails are coming — whether we wanted them or not!
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2193666/openai-investigation-state-attorneys-general/