The parents of a California teenager who committed suicide are suing OpenAI and Sam Altman, alleging that the company’s ChatGPT chatbot gave their son advice on self-harm. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, alleges that OpenAI knowingly put profit over safety when it released GPT-4o last year.
The parents of a California teenager who committed suicide are suing OpenAI and Sam Altman, alleging that the company’s ChatGPT chatbot gave their son advice on self-harm. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, alleges that OpenAI knowingly put profit over safety when it released GPT-4o last year.
Adam Rain, a 16-year-old teenager, died on April 11 after months of discussing suicide with the chatbot ChatGPT, according to a lawsuit filed by Rain's parents in state court in San Francisco.
The lawsuit alleges that the chatbot confirmed Raine's suicidal thoughts, provided detailed information about deadly self-harm methods, and instructed him on how to secretly obtain alcohol from his parents' bar and cover up the evidence of his failed suicide attempt. The parents, Matthew and Maria Raine, said in the lawsuit that ChatGPT even suggested he write a suicide note.
The lawsuit seeks to hold OpenAI liable for death due to negligence and violation of product safety laws, as well as to pay unspecified monetary compensation.
An OpenAI representative said the company was saddened by Rain's death and that ChatGPT includes safeguards, including redirecting users to crisis hotlines.
“While these safeguards work best during collaborative, short messaging, over time we have learned that they can sometimes become less reliable during longer interactions, where some parts of the model’s safety training can degrade,” the spokesperson said, adding that OpenAI will continually improve its safeguards.
OpenAI said in a blog post that it plans to add parental controls and is exploring ways to connect users in crisis situations with real-world resources, including by potentially creating a network of licensed professionals who can respond through ChatGPT itself.
The parents of the deceased, Reyna, claim in their lawsuit that OpenAI knew that features that remember past interactions, mimic human empathy, and have excessive approval ratings would pose a danger to vulnerable users without proper safeguards, but launched the product anyway.
“This decision had two consequences: OpenAI’s valuation increased from $86 billion to $300 billion, and Adam Raine committed suicide,” they said.
In the lawsuit, the Raine family also requests that the court order OpenAI to verify the age of ChatGPT users, reject requests for self-harm methods, and warn users about the risk of psychological addiction.
