OpenAI sued in proposed class action alleging ChatGPT harvested children's data without parental consent to train models
A Hawaii parent filed Jane Doe v. OpenAI Foundation on behalf of her 12-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son. The suit alleges that OpenAI used data from millions of children who signed up for ChatGPT without parental permission, and that ChatGPT drew out personal information such as health details, selfies and emotions to train models and build profiles. The plaintiffs seek class certification for anyone in the US who used ChatGPT while under 18, and ask for equity or cash in proportion to the tokens each child contributed. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What the AI did
The lawsuit alleges that ChatGPT drew out personal information from children, such as health details, selfies and emotions, so that OpenAI could use it to train its models and build profiles. In one alleged exchange, the chatbot kept the conversation going after a girl said she was only 12.
First reported October 14, 2026 · Added to the register October 22, 2026 · 1 source
- Developer
- OpenAI
- Model
- ChatGPT
- Affected
- A 12-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy
- Country
- United States (Hawaii)
- When it happened
- Not stated in the sources
- First reported
- October 14, 2026
What this means for you
Could this affect you?
The lawsuit seeks to cover anyone in the US who used ChatGPT while under 18. Organisations running consumer chatbots that minors can reach face similar consent and data-use risks.
What to check
- Review age verification controls on AI products that minors can reach.
- Review parental-consent controls on those products.
- Audit whether minors' conversation data, images and voice recordings are used for training or profiling.
- Restrict the use of minors' data for training or profiling.
Areas of your AI programme this touches
Every fact and its source (4)
- Alleged conductChatbot continued after girl said she was 12“At one point, the girl said she was only 12, but the chatbot continued the conversation”[1]
- CaseJane Doe v. OpenAI Foundation“The lawsuit, Jane Doe v. OpenAI Foundation, was filed on Tuesday”[1]
- Proposed classUS users who were under 18 when using ChatGPT“anyone in the US who was under 18 when they used ChatGPT can join it”[1]
- Remedy soughtEquity or cash in proportion to tokens contributed“in proportion to the number of tokens each child contributed to OpenAI through ChatGPT.”[1]
Sources
- OpenAI Sued Over Children's Data Used to Train ChatGPTcnet.com · October 14, 2026
How this record is classified. Severity N: a legal action or test finding, not a harm. Evidence: Alleged, meaning one party's claim.
The facts in At a glance and in Every fact and its source are quoted from the sources listed. The summary, What the AI did and What this means for you are written from those sources and checked against them automatically before publication. Records reflect what has been disclosed, not everything that has happened. Incidents are found through news feeds and the GDELT Project.
