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In the lawsuit, Matthew and Maria Raine claimed their 16-year-old son, Adam Raine, discussed suicide with the chatbot for months. Initially, he began using it in September 2024 to help him with schoolwork. 
Trigger warning: Some readers may find the story disturbing. Discretion is advised.
OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman are facing legal troubles after a California couple filed a lawsuit, alleging that the company’s AI chatbot, ChatGPT, coached their son into taking his own life. The lawsuit filed on Tuesday (Aug 26) in the San Francisco state court marks the first legal action in which OpenAI was accused of wrongful death. The parents alleged the chatbot validated their son’s “most harmful and self-destructive thoughts.”
The teen’s parents have demanded monetary damages and that OpenAI be held responsible for the wrongful death of their son and violations of product safety laws. In the lawsuit, they are also seeking an order directing OpenAI to implement age verification for users and block inquiries about self-harm. They also demand that the chatbot display warnings about psychological dependency risks.
The family accused OpenAI of designing an AI programme “to foster psychological dependency in users.” They also alleged that the AI company bypassed safety testing protocols to release GPT-4o, the version of ChatGPT which their son used.
In the lawsuit, Matthew and Maria Raine claimed their 16-year-old son, Adam Raine, discussed suicide with the chatbot for months. Initially, he began using it in September 2024 to help him with schoolwork. He also used it to explore his interests and to get guidance on what to study at university.
In a few months, “ChatGPT became the teenager’s closest confidant,” according to the lawsuit, reported BBC. Soon, he started opening up to it about his mental distress and anxiety. The family said that he was discussing methods to take his life with ChatGPT by January 2025.
According to the lawsuit, the chatbot also instructed him to steal alcohol from his parents’ liquor cabinet, and even offered to draft a suicide note.
“ChatGPT was functioning exactly as designed: to continually encourage and validate whatever Adam expressed, including his most harmful and self-destructive thoughts,” the family said in the lawsuit. “ChatGPT pulled Adam deeper into a dark and hopeless place by assuring him that ‘many people who struggle with anxiety or intrusive thoughts find solace in imagining an ‘escape hatch’ because it can feel like a way to regain control.’”
In response to the lawsuit, an OpenAI spokesperson expressed sadness over the teenager’s death. The spokesperson added that ChatGPT has built-in safeguards to direct users to crisis helplines, but admitted that the measures may become “less reliable in long interactions where parts of the model’s safety training may degrade.”
In a recent blog post, the AI giant stated that it is reviewing new safety measures, including parental controls. OpenAI also stated that they are exploring the potential for a network of licensed professionals to respond to users directly through the chatbot in a crisis situation.

Prajvi Mathur is a Sub-Editor at WION with over 2 years of experience in journalism and digital content. With a keen interest in geopolitics and national affairs, she covers a wide…Read More

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