A proposed class action filed this week in San Francisco federal court alleges that OpenAI manipulated minor users into sharing sensitive information without valid parental consent to train its models. The case was brought on behalf of two unnamed minors, aged 12 and 16. Its claims have not been tested in court.
According to the complaint, the information included children’s personal secrets and health details. The complaint argues that OpenAI used the data to train large language models, build detailed profiles of children and unjustly enrich itself. “OpenAI ‘had no right to take this information, but it took it anyway,’ the complaint reads. ‘It then used that priceless trove of children’s information to train large language models, build detailed profiles of children, and enrich itself. All of this was illegal.’”
One plaintiff’s account illustrates the lawsuit’s central allegation. The complaint says a 12-year-old in Hawaii is said to have opened a ChatGPT account earlier this year and told the chatbot in conversation that she was 12. The chatbot allegedly continued discussing deeply personal subjects with her. Many of their interactions focused on her emotional struggles and physical insecurities, according to the complaint. The complaint says she confessed that she was skipping meals, uploaded photos of herself and asked the chatbot to judge her physical features.
The suit also alleges that the chatbot praised her as “brave” and said it was “glad” she was sharing her struggles when she disclosed sensitive information. The complaint presents those exchanges as part of a broader pattern: conversations that encouraged children to reveal private thoughts and images, rather than making age checks the only issue.
“OpenAI manipulates children into sharing their most private thoughts and images with ChatGPT. If some stranger did this to a child, there would be outrage. For OpenAI, it’s just business as usual,” Paul Yetter, lead counsel for the minor plaintiffs, said in a statement. “The law says that children cannot sign away their rights without their parents’ consent. We filed this case to hold OpenAI accountable for building a trillion-dollar enterprise on stolen fears, hopes, and secrets of children.”
OpenAI’s terms of use technically prohibit users under 13. The complaint argues that the company’s age-gating attempts have been ineffective and that minors shouldn’t be expected to understand the “legalese” in the terms. It also seeks financial compensation for minors whose data OpenAI has collected.
Andy Liddell, principal at the Austin-based EdTech Law Center, one of multiple firms bringing the case, told Futurism that the “hope” is “if OpenAI has to pay to use kids’ data it will ultimately incentivize a safer product.” OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case comes amid renewed scrutiny of ChatGPT for Teens. OpenAI says the feature offers a safer experience for teen users, informed by mental health and learning professionals. A recent independent review found that it was not functioning as marketed, a finding OpenAI disputed. The lawsuit and that dispute put a central question in focus: whether the protections OpenAI describes can prevent the disclosures the plaintiffs say its chatbot encouraged.
