A coalition of 42 US state attorneys general has launched a sweeping investigation into OpenAI, with New York serving a subpoena covering advertising practices, user data, treatment of minors and seniors, and internal safety policies. The probe arrives just days after OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO at an $852 billion valuation, creating material legal risk that must be disclosed in its S-1. The investigation is part of a broader legal siege: Florida has already sued OpenAI civilly and is running a separate criminal probe, while dozens of individual lawsuits allege ChatGPT contributed to self-harm and suicide among minors. Courts have begun rejecting Section 230 defenses for chatbots, and the legal trajectory mirrors the social media liability wave that resulted in $381 million in verdicts against Meta and Google.
