OpenAI is facing a multistate investigation, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported that the company received a subpoena on Friday seeking documents related to its business practices and impact on users.
The Journal, which says it viewed the subpoena from New York’s attorney general, reports that investigators are asking about OpenAI’s advertising practices, user engagement and retention, data handling, and how the company manages interactions with minors and senior users. The AGs are also reportedly asking about model sycophancy — a growing concern in the AI industry around chatbots that tell users what they want to hear rather than what’s accurate.
An OpenAI spokesperson told the Journal the company takes the concerns seriously and plans to work constructively with the attorneys general.
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What triggered the investigation isn’t clear, but OpenAI has been accumulating legal and regulatory headaches for a while. Florida’s attorney general opened a criminal investigation into the company in April following reports that the suspect in the 2025 Florida State University mass shooting had used ChatGPT.
The company has also faced wrongful death lawsuits tied to chatbot interactions. All of this comes just days after OpenAI filed paperwork with the SEC to go public.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
