New York's attorney general served OpenAI with a subpoena on Friday 12 June 2026, as part of an investigation by a coalition of state attorneys general. The request seeks documents on advertising, user engagement and retention, model sycophancy, consumer and health data, the treatment of minors and seniors, and internal company policies. It came four days after OpenAI said it had confidentially filed for an IPO.
Update, 23 October 2026: This story has been corrected: OpenAI announced its IPO filing itself. There has been no public development in the probe since June.
A subpoena is a request for documents. It is not a finding, and it is not a lawsuit.
READ ALSO: The Musk-OpenAI Trial Just Put the Whole AI Industry on Trial
READ ALSO: ChatGPT Now Lets You Lock Chats Behind a PIN or Face ID
What is confirmed
TechCrunch reported, citing the Wall Street Journal, that New York served the subpoena on 12 June. The ABA Journal, citing the New York Times, adds that OpenAI said it had been subpoenaed and that New York and Colorado are among the states leading the effort.
OpenAI's statement: "We take the concerns raised by state attorneys general seriously and intend to engage constructively with their offices." Its spokesperson also pointed to age prediction, parental controls and a ban on ads aimed at children.
How many states?
The Next Web reports that 42 attorneys general are involved, attributing the figure to the Wall Street Journal. OpenAI has not said which states are involved, and TechCrunch and the ABA Journal give no count. Treat 42 as reported and unconfirmed. The subpoena itself has not been published.
Why sycophancy is on the list
Sycophancy means a chatbot telling users what they want to hear. Regulators listing it alongside minors and health data suggests they are looking at how the product affects people's behaviour, not only at where their data goes. TechCrunch lists it among the subpoena's topics. Reports of the exact wording of the seven or so areas differ slightly between outlets.
The context
On 1 June, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and Sam Altman, alleging they "ignored internal and external safety warnings, put children at great risk," per TechCrunch. That is a separate case.
On the IPO, OpenAI said on 8 June that it had submitted a confidential draft S-1 to the SEC and was announcing it because it expected a leak, according to a reprint of the company's post by Storage Newsletter. It said timing was undecided. Reports of valuation targets vary; the last private valuation was $852 billion.
The earlier article also said OpenAI "defeated" Elon Musk. More precisely, a federal jury in Oakland found in May that Musk sued too late, without ruling on the merits, and Musk said he would appeal, per The Decoder.
What this means for readers in Nigeria
The probe is American law applied to a product used worldwide, including by millions of Nigerians. If investigators force changes to age checks, health-related answers or data retention, they will probably apply to every user, not only Americans. Nigerian parents and schools should not wait for that: check ChatGPT's parental controls and age settings now. Nigeria's own data regulator has not, to our knowledge, taken comparable action on this topic.
For investors and fintech founders watching the IPO race, legal exposure is something OpenAI would have to describe in a public filing. Compare with how [Anthropic's funding round and IPO plans](/news/anthropic-overtakes-openai-965-billion-valuation) have developed.
What happens next
Subpoenas usually lead to months of document exchange, then closed-door talks, a settlement or a lawsuit. Any public S-1 would have to list material legal risks. OpenAI has said it will cooperate.
What the states could do next
- Which states are in the coalition and whether it is 42.
- The subpoena's text and deadline.
- Whether OpenAI has produced documents or negotiated scope.
- Whether the probe will delay the IPO. OpenAI has set no date.
- Any development after June. None has been made public.
What OpenAI hands over will matter more than what it says in a press statement.
