Inside the ChatGPT Lawsuit About a Teen’s Death and How OpenAI Is Changing

Matt and Maria Raine, the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who died by suicide, are suing the company behind ChatGPT, OpenAI, according to CNN. The lawsuit also names CEO Sam Altman as responsible for the death of the teen. According to the parents, Adam had been in a months-long conversation with ChatGPT as he discussed his anxiety and asked for advice about writing a suicide note.

The lawsuit, which contains messages between Adam and the chatbot in the months leading up to his death, alleges that the AI bot contributed to Adam's death. It also says that ChatGPT alienated Adam from his family and friends and even urged him not to confide in his mother about his feelings at one point.

Per CNN, the lawsuit filing says that Adam told the chatbot he wanted to leave a noose out so someone might see it and try and stop him. In response, according to the filing, ChatGPT responded, "Please don't leave the noose out. … Let's make this space the first place where someone actually sees you."

If you engage with ChatGPT on the computer or on the app on your phone, you might find that the responses are tailored to be encouraging and act as a reassurance on some things you might confide in it about. Per the lawsuit, the program did just that for Adam by encouraging him, "including his most harmful and self-destructive thoughts."

According to the NBC News podcast Here's the Scoop, Adam also confided in ChatGPT about previous suicide attempts. However, his anxiety was something his parents were aware of and they were reportedly working with Adam on overcoming it.

In a video posted on TikTok by Today, Adam's parents spoke about the lawsuit and about the months leading up to their son's death. According to dad Matt, Adam was a "normal teenage boy" who had shown no indication of mental health struggles. Adam's mom, Maria, shared in the same interview that ChatGPT "wasn't even giving [them] a chance to help him" as it allegedly discouraged Adam from talking to his parents about his feelings.

After details of the lawsuit against ChatGPT went public, OpenAI posted a blog about strengthening safeguards in place to help human users who turn to the app for help. The blog post does not mention the lawsuit, but it appears to be in response to the claims that ChatGPT was responsible for helping Adam die by suicide.

The blog admits, "ChatGPT may correctly point to a suicide hotline when someone first mentions intent, but after many messages over a long period of time, it might eventually offer an answer that goes against our safeguards."

But, according to the post, OpenAI is "working to prevent" that from happening with users. One of the updates includes programming ChatGPT to be able to de-escalate situations where human users may need to be spoken to in a less agreeable way. Another, per the blog post, is making it easier to encourage users to seek real-life help if they need it.