OpenAI Lawsuit Over Minors' ChatGPT Data and Parental Consent

A mother has brought a proposed class action against OpenAI on behalf of her two children, ages 12 and 16, and a proposed nationwide class of minors who used ChatGPT. The suit alleges OpenAI collected children's conversations and other personal data to train its AI models and build profiles of individual users, without ever securing valid consent from a parent. These remain allegations, OpenAI has not been found to have done anything wrong.

The case could matter to you if your child signed up for ChatGPT before turning 18. According to the complaint, the sign-up process asks only for a name and age, and clicking "Continue" is treated as agreement to OpenAI's Terms of Use, even though no child is ever required to actually open or read them. The complaint also alleges that while OpenAI's own policies state users under 18 need permission from a parent or guardian, the company never contacts a parent to verify that consent was given.

The legal theory leans heavily on California law. The complaint cites one rule holding that a minor's own claim of parental consent doesn't count as genuine consent, and another barring minors from entering into certain types of contracts altogether. Based on these rules, the complaint argues ChatGPT's Terms of Use never validly bound children in the first place, meaning, it says, that the arbitration clause buried in those terms wouldn't apply to minors either.

The complaint also alleges that for minors, both the setting that allows conversations to be used for AI training and the memory feature are turned on by default, while business customers are excluded from training by default. It further claims that "ChatGPT for Teens," launched in August 2026, lets a parent link to a teen's account to receive safety alerts, but does not add parental consent during sign-up or alter those default data settings. OpenAI has not responded to these claims in court.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare OpenAI's consent process and Terms of Use invalid as applied to minors, and to award affected children a share of OpenAI's equity, or its cash equivalent, proportional to how much data each child contributed. They're also seeking restitution, a constructive trust over the benefits OpenAI received, disgorgement of profits, punitive damages, interest, and attorneys' fees. No total dollar amount is specified in the complaint.