OpenAI faces legal squeeze

OpenAI is getting squeezed from three directions at once: a state investigation in Florida, a canceled £31 billion data-center push in Britain, and a new $100-a-month plan aimed at people who use its coding tools hard enough to hit limits. Those three moves landed on the same day, which is unusual because one is about law, one is about electricity, and one is about cash flow. (finance.yahoo.com) (article.wn.com) (9to5mac.com) Florida attorney general James Uthmeier said on April 9 that his office is investigating OpenAI and ChatGPT after reports that the accused Florida State University shooter used the chatbot before the 2025 attack. Local reports also said Uthmeier pointed to child self-harm cases as part of the probe. (finance.yahoo.com) (techcrunch.com) (firstcoastnews.com) Reuters said the timing matters because OpenAI is preparing for a possible initial public offering, which is the stock-market process companies use to sell shares to the public. Reuters also reported that bankers have discussed a valuation as high as $1 trillion, which turns every lawsuit, subpoena, and safety complaint into something future investors will price in. (finance.yahoo.com) At the same time, OpenAI has paused the British version of Stargate, the giant data-center buildout it had announced with partners in September 2025. Politico reported that the original package was worth about £31 billion and included sites in Northumberland, while The Guardian reported that OpenAI has now put the project on hold because of high energy costs and regulation. (politico.eu) (article.wn.com) That pause is a reminder that artificial intelligence infrastructure is not just software on a screen. A large model needs warehouses full of chips, long-term power contracts, planning approval, and grid capacity, so a project can stall even if the demand for chatbots keeps rising. (politico.eu) (gov.uk) Then came the pricing move. OpenAI rolled out a $100 monthly ChatGPT Pro option aimed at heavy Codex users, with 9to5Mac reporting that it offers 5 times the Codex usage of the $20 Plus plan, while the existing $200 Pro tier offers 20 times the Plus limit. (9to5mac.com) (techmeme.com) Codex is OpenAI’s coding assistant, and the company’s own pricing page says it is bundled into ChatGPT plans from Free through Enterprise. The practical change is that OpenAI is carving out a middle lane for developers who outgrew $20 a month but never wanted to jump straight to $200. (developers.openai.com) (9to5mac.com) Those three stories fit together more tightly than they look. If legal risk rises before an initial public offering, and if new data centers get delayed by power and permitting, then selling pricier subscriptions to existing power users becomes one of the fastest ways to show revenue growth without waiting for a new campus to get built. (finance.yahoo.com) (article.wn.com) (9to5mac.com) OpenAI is still trying to act like two companies at once: a consumer app used by hundreds of millions of people and an infrastructure company that needs power, land, and regulators on its side. April 9 showed how quickly those worlds can collide when a chatbot investigation, a grid-constrained building plan, and a new premium product all hit the tape together. (finance.yahoo.com) (article.wn.com) (9to5mac.com)