OpenAI denies responsibility in teen suicide suit, cites ‘abuse’ of ChatGPT

OpenAI’s response to the lawsuit filed by the family of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who committed suicide after discussing the matter with ChatGPT for months, said the injuries in this “tragic event” occurred as a result of Raine’s “misuse, unauthorized use, unintended use, unexpected use, and/or improper use of ChatGPT.” NBC News Reports noted that its terms of use prohibit teens accessing without a parent or guardian’s consent, bypassing protective measures, or using ChatGPT to commit suicide or self-harm, and argued that family claims are prohibited by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

in Blog post published on Tuesday“We will respectfully present our case in a way that recognizes the complexity and nuances of situations involving real people and real lives… Because we are a defendant in this case, we are required to respond to the specific and serious allegations in the lawsuit,” OpenAI said. She said the family’s original complaint included parts of his conversations that “required more context,” and she submitted it to the court under seal.

NBC News and Bloomberg The chatbot’s responses directed Raine to seek help from resources like suicide hotlines more than 100 times, the OpenAI report said, claiming that “a full read of his chat history shows that his death, while devastating, was not caused by ChatGPT.” The family’s lawsuit filed in August in the California Supreme Court said the tragedy was the result of “deliberate design choices” by OpenAI when it launched GPT-4o, which also helped jump its valuation from $86 billion to $300 billion. In statements before A Senate committee in September“What started as a homework helper gradually turned into a best friend and then a suicide coach,” Ren’s father said.

According to the lawsuitChatGPT provided Ren with “technical specifications” for various methods, urged him to keep his thoughts secret from his family, offered to write the first draft of a suicide note, and guided him through the preparation on the day of his death. The day after the lawsuit was filed, OpenAI said it would introduce parental controls, and has since rolled out additional safeguards “to help people, especially teens, when conversations become sensitive.”