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OpenAI Accused of Taking Minors’ Data Without Parental Consent
OpenAI‘s ChatGPT unlawfully took sensitive data from millions of child users who signed up for the AI service without getting parental consent, according to a new lawsuit filed Tuesday. The complaint in San Francisco federal court contains broad allegations that OpenAI designed ChatGPT to manipulate children into trusting the chatbot and divulging highly personal information and sensitive health data.
“It then used that priceless trove of children’s information to train large language models, build detailed profiles of children, and enrich itself,” the complaint said, which was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. “All of this was illegal.” The suit seeks certification of a nationwide class action of users who were minors when they used ChatGPT.
It also contains an unusual request that all children whose data has been used to train the company’s AI models be given a proportionate amount of OpenAI equity or an equivalent in cash. The company’s current valuation is up to $1.4 trillion.
Social Media Giants Pressed to Adopt Tougher Safeguards for Children: ‘Our Kids Are Under Attack’
A group of parents, child advocates and family policy groups is calling on TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat to adopt the same safeguards for minors recently agreed to by Meta, arguing that the changes should become an industry-wide standard.
In a letter sent to the three platforms and obtained by FOX Business, the American Principles Project and other organizations and community leaders called Meta’s new protections a “new and higher standard for the industry” that should serve as a “whole new rulebook” for social media companies.
“TikTok, Snapchat, and all the online platforms that deal with our children online have the duty to make the same changes that Meta did because our kids always need to be protected,” Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, told FOX Business.
Fears About Kids’ Online Safety Unite Democrats and Republicans
The U.S. Senate candidates in Texas could hardly be more different: James Talarico, a former seminarian turned Democratic state lawmaker who speaks in calm cadences about love and empathy, and Ken Paxton, the pugnacious Republican state attorney general who speaks about a refusal to compromise.
They share an enemy, though. They dislike social media’s effects on children’s mental health. Talarico, who did not respond to a request for comment, has endorsed a social media ban for kids under 16, while denouncing “predatory algorithms that divide us on an hourly, daily basis.” As a legislator, he co-authored a bill targeting explicit deepfakes — digital imitations of individuals that are often made or manipulated by artificial intelligence and used for harassment on social media.
Paxton has been suing Big Tech, alleging the companies hook youth on their apps or don’t restrict sensitive videos from being viewed by kids. “When elected to the U.S. Senate, he will continue his proven record of advancing policies that protect children online, strengthen parental rights, and hold Big Tech accountable when it breaks the law,” Paxton campaign spokesperson Madison Cercy said in a statement to KFF Health News.
Disney Offers $20M for Character.AI’s Scandal-Plagued Chatbot Tech
In a bankruptcy proceeding that kicked off yesterday, Disney has offered to buy some of the technology that powers the controversy-plagued chatbot Character.AI. Disney is willing to pay $20 million for “a non-exclusive perpetual license” of certain Character Technologies intellectual property, the chatbot maker said in a press release that did not go into much further detail on which assets Disney wanted.
The move may be surprising. In September 2025, Disney joined others in publicly criticizing Character.AI for stealing content and harming kids. Specifically, Disney sent a strongly worded cease-and-desist letter that accused Character Technologies of weaponizing Disney characters “in a way that could damage its brand long term,” Axios reported.
