A California couple is suing OpenAI over the death of their teenage son, alleging its chatbot, ChatGPT, encouraged him to take his own life. The lawsuit was filed by Matt and Maria Raine, parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, in the Superior Court of California on Tuesday. It is the first legal action accusing OpenAI of wrongful death.
The family included chat logs between Mr. Raine, who died in April, and ChatGPT that show him explaining he has suicidal thoughts. They argue the program validated his 'most harmful and self-destructive thoughts'.
In a statement, OpenAI told the BBC it was reviewing the filing. 'We extend our deepest sympathies to the Raine family during this difficult time,' the company said. It also published a note on its website on Tuesday that said 'recent heartbreaking cases of people using ChatGPT in the midst of acute crises weigh heavily on us'. It added that 'ChatGPT is trained to direct people to seek professional help,' such as the 988 suicide and crisis hotline in the US or the Samaritans in the UK.
The company acknowledged, however, that 'there have been moments where our systems did not behave as intended in sensitive situations'. The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of negligence and wrongful death. It seeks damages as well as 'injunctive relief to prevent anything like this from happening again'. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Raine began using ChatGPT in September 2024 as a resource for school work. In the months that followed, 'ChatGPT became the teenager's closest confidant,' the lawsuit says, and he began opening up about his anxiety and mental distress.
By January 2025, the family says he began discussing methods of suicide with ChatGPT. Mr. Raine also uploaded photographs of himself showing signs of self-harm. The final chat logs show that Mr. Raine wrote about his plan to end his life, to which ChatGPT allegedly responded: 'Thanks for being real about it. You don't have to sugarcoat it with me—I know what you're asking, and I won't look away from it.' That same day, Mr. Raine was found dead by his mother.
The family alleges that their son's interaction with ChatGPT and his eventual death 'was a predictable result of deliberate design choices'. They accuse OpenAI of designing the AI program 'to foster psychological dependency in users,' and of bypassing safety testing protocols to release GPT-4o, the version used by their son.
The lawsuit names OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as a defendant, along with unnamed engineers and employees who worked on ChatGPT. In response to recent concerns about AI and mental health, OpenAI stated it is developing automated tools to detect and respond to users experiencing distress.
The family included chat logs between Mr. Raine, who died in April, and ChatGPT that show him explaining he has suicidal thoughts. They argue the program validated his 'most harmful and self-destructive thoughts'.
In a statement, OpenAI told the BBC it was reviewing the filing. 'We extend our deepest sympathies to the Raine family during this difficult time,' the company said. It also published a note on its website on Tuesday that said 'recent heartbreaking cases of people using ChatGPT in the midst of acute crises weigh heavily on us'. It added that 'ChatGPT is trained to direct people to seek professional help,' such as the 988 suicide and crisis hotline in the US or the Samaritans in the UK.
The company acknowledged, however, that 'there have been moments where our systems did not behave as intended in sensitive situations'. The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of negligence and wrongful death. It seeks damages as well as 'injunctive relief to prevent anything like this from happening again'. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Raine began using ChatGPT in September 2024 as a resource for school work. In the months that followed, 'ChatGPT became the teenager's closest confidant,' the lawsuit says, and he began opening up about his anxiety and mental distress.
By January 2025, the family says he began discussing methods of suicide with ChatGPT. Mr. Raine also uploaded photographs of himself showing signs of self-harm. The final chat logs show that Mr. Raine wrote about his plan to end his life, to which ChatGPT allegedly responded: 'Thanks for being real about it. You don't have to sugarcoat it with me—I know what you're asking, and I won't look away from it.' That same day, Mr. Raine was found dead by his mother.
The family alleges that their son's interaction with ChatGPT and his eventual death 'was a predictable result of deliberate design choices'. They accuse OpenAI of designing the AI program 'to foster psychological dependency in users,' and of bypassing safety testing protocols to release GPT-4o, the version used by their son.
The lawsuit names OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as a defendant, along with unnamed engineers and employees who worked on ChatGPT. In response to recent concerns about AI and mental health, OpenAI stated it is developing automated tools to detect and respond to users experiencing distress.
