AI-Related Lawsuits Drive Surge in Securities Class Action Filings
Securities class action filings in federal and state courts jumped 30% to 121 in the first half of 2026, fueled by a surge in AI-related lawsuits. Disclosure dollar losses reached $529 billion, close to the all-time high, while AI filings are on pace to nearly double 2025's total.
Securities class action filings in U.S. federal and state courts rose sharply in the first half of 2026, propelled by a wave of lawsuits tied to artificial intelligence, according to a new report from Cornerstone Research, an economic and financial consulting firm.
Key Findings from the Midyear Assessment
Filings surged 30% to 121 in the first half of 2026, up from 93 in the second half of 2025, and increased 6% compared with the first half of 2025, the report said.
Among the most notable trends, 15 securities class action filings related to artificial intelligence were filed in federal court during the first six months of 2026. That pace suggests AI-related filings could nearly double the 16 such cases filed during all of 2025, the report noted. The largest share of these AI-related filings centered on AI development, followed by data centers and AI hardware or infrastructure.
Sasha Aganin, senior vice president at Cornerstone, attributed the spike to the enthusiasm that AI opportunities generated among issuers and investors. "When a company is expected to grow quickly and hits a bump on the road, its share price may decline a lot and securities class actions may follow in some cases," he said in an email.
Venues and Sector Distribution
The filings during the first half of 2026 were spread across multiple companies and sectors, including software services, semiconductors, and energy, Aganin said. The Second and Ninth U.S. Circuit Courts, which cover New York and California respectively, were the selected venues for a large share of the filings.
The surge in federal suits was largely comprised of AI-related cases against technology companies, with filings in that sector reaching twice the 1997–2025 average, according to the report.
Disclosure Dollar Losses Near Record High
The $529 billion in disclosure dollar loss during the first half of 2026 represented a significant spike, nearly reaching the all-time high of $544 billion set in the first half of 2022. Mega filings—those with a disclosure dollar loss of at least $5 billion—accounted for 85% of total disclosure dollar losses during the period, the third highest share on record, behind the first halves of 2022 (89%) and 2000 (88%).
Maximum dollar losses also increased from $1 trillion in the first half of 2025 to $1.858 trillion in the first half of 2026, a rate substantially higher than the 1997–2025 semi-annual average of $667 billion.
Declines in Other Filing Categories
Despite the high overall numbers, there was some positive news for companies. No COVID-19-related actions were filed during the first half of the year for the first time since the start of the pandemic in 2019. There were also no cybersecurity-related filings, a first since 2016, and the six total cryptocurrency-related filings during the period are on track to be the lowest since 2019.
Outlook and Legal Context
The trend of AI-related filings could continue if volatility among different AI companies persists, as some market observers expect, Aganin said. Those class actions were predominantly filed under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, he added, and they targeted both U.S. and foreign issuers.
The likelihood of a core filing—those not related to mergers and acquisitions—against U.S. exchange-listed companies in 2026 is on pace to be the highest since 2019, the report stated. Meanwhile, the number of core federal filings against non-U.S. issuers is on pace to reach its highest total since 2020.
The rise in non-U.S. filings was driven by lawsuits that included "pump-and-dump" allegations, said Aganin. "It is not entirely clear why foreign issuers are disproportionately affected by these allegations," he said. "We know that some foreign issuers do not have particularly liquid securities traded in the U.S."
Since the start of the second half of 2025, there have been 10 filings alleging such pump-and-dump schemes, six with tariff-related allegations, and four with private credit-related allegations involving business development companies, the report stated.