California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office served OpenAI with an investigative subpoena on September 30, 2026, seeking information about cybersecurity incidents and risks involving the company and its AI models. Bonta says investigators want to know what was done to prevent incidents, what happened during them and what followed.
What California is seeking from OpenAI
An investigative subpoena is a formal legal demand for information. Bonta said his office seeks details about incident prevention, events during cybersecurity incidents, the actions taken afterward and other relevant information. The California Department of Justice described the inquiry as broader than its earlier investigation into an incident involving Hugging Face.
California’s announcement described an ongoing investigation. Bonta said his office was determining whether legal accountability applied; California had not announced a finding of wrongdoing.
The subpoena timeline
Bonta served the subpoena on September 30. The California Department of Justice announced it on October 1, saying it had been served the previous day.
OpenAI’s reported response
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company would continue working with the California Attorney General’s office. Pusateri also said OpenAI had strengthened safeguards across its research systems, continued a broader review of model activity, notified affected organizations and published its findings.
