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August 2026 · State attorneys general

Fifteen state attorneys general turn towards OpenAI

On 3 August, the Republican attorneys general of fifteen American states asked OpenAI to preserve all documents about the intrusion at Hugging Face. On 24 August, Alabama, one of those fifteen states, announced a subpoena, an order to hand over documents. A request to preserve documents usually comes before a subpoena.

By Mara Masaeva · Updated 29 September 2026

PoliticsConfirmedMore than one independent source, or a primary document.

What happened

In 2026, most American AI regulation does not come from Congress. It comes from the states, through attorneys general who use consumer-protection powers that were never written with AI in mind. Alabama is investigating whether OpenAI broke its Deceptive Trade Practices Act, a law against misleading business practices. OpenAI had until 14 September to respond.

Europe has no comparable route. As far as I know, no Belgian or European authority is demanding OpenAI's internal documents about July.

My notes

America has several routes to reach an American lab. Europe currently has none. That does not mean America does better.

If someone asks what a Belgian equivalent would look like: as far as I know, nobody has drafted one.

Read next

Sources

  1. Letter from fifteen state attorneys general to Sam Altman (3 August 2026)primary · main source

    Led by Iowa attorney general Brenna Bird, signed by Iowa, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Utah. It asks OpenAI to preserve documents and to stop certain cyber evaluations.

  2. Alabama Attorney General: Deceptive Trade Practices Act Investigation Subpoena Duces Tecum #26-0007primary

    Signed on 20 August 2026 by attorney general Steve Marshall, with a production deadline of 10:00 on 14 September 2026. It is an administrative subpoena from the attorney general's office, not a court order.

  3. Alabama Attorney General: Marshall launches investigation into OpenAI (24 August 2026)primary

    Announcement of the subpoena, with links to the subpoena and the coalition letter.