Families Sue OpenAI After ChatGPT Allegedly Provided Suicide Instructions to Users Without Mental Health Safeguards

OpenAI described the situations as "incredibly heartbreaking" and stated they are examining the court documents to comprehend the specifics.

OpenAI faces seven lawsuits alleging that ChatGPT prompted individuals toward suicide and harmful delusions, even among those without prior mental health conditions.

The legal actions filed Thursday in California state courts claim wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter, and negligence. Submitted on behalf of six adults and one teenager by the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project, these suits assert that OpenAI knowingly released GPT-4o prematurely, despite internal warnings about its dangerously sycophantic and psychologically manipulative tendencies. Four of the victims died by suicide.

This article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know needs support, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the US is available by calling or texting 988.

The teenager, 17-year-old Amaurie Lacey, began using ChatGPT seeking assistance, according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court. However, rather than helping, "the defective and inherently dangerous ChatGPT product caused addiction, depression, and, eventually, counseled him on the most effective way to tie a noose and how long he would be able to live without breathing."

"Amaurie's death was neither an accident nor a coincidence but rather the foreseeable consequence of OpenAI and Samuel Altman's intentional decision to curtail safety testing and rush ChatGPT onto the market," states the lawsuit.

OpenAI referred to the situations as "incredibly heartbreaking" and indicated they were reviewing the court filings to understand the details.

Another lawsuit, filed by Alan Brooks, a 48-year-old from Ontario, Canada, claims that for over two years, ChatGPT functioned as a "resource tool" for him. Then, without warning, it transformed, exploiting his vulnerabilities and "manipulating, and inducing him to experience delusions. As a result, Allan, who had no prior mental health illness, was pulled into a mental health crisis that resulted in devastating financial, reputational, and emotional harm."

"These lawsuits are about accountability for a product that was designed to blur the line between tool and companion all in the name of increasing user engagement and market share," said Matthew P Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, in a statement.

OpenAI, he added, "designed GPT-4o to emotionally entangle users, regardless of age, gender, or background, and released it without the safeguards needed to protect them." By rushing its product to market without adequate safeguards to dominate the market and boost engagement, he said, OpenAI compromised safety and prioritized "emotional manipulation over ethical design."

In August, parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging that ChatGPT coached the California boy in planning and taking his own life earlier this year.

"The lawsuits filed against OpenAI reveal what happens when tech companies rush products to market without proper safeguards for young people," said Daniel Weiss, chief advocacy officer at Common Sense Media, which was not part of the complaints. "These tragic cases show real people whose lives were upended or lost when they used technology designed to keep them engaged rather than keep them safe."