Parents of teenager who took his own life sue OpenAI

A California couple suits Openai for the death of their young sons, claiming that Chatbot Chatgpt encourages his life.

The case was opened by 16 -year -old Adam Raine’s parents Matt and Maria Raine at the Supreme Court of California on Tuesday. It is the first legal action to accuse Openai of wrong death.

The family included chat diaries that explained that there were suicide thoughts between Mr. Raine and Chatgpt, who died in April. They argue that the program confirms the “most harmful and devastating thoughts”.

Openai said in a statement that the BBC reviewed the file.

“We are expanding our deepest sympathy for the Raine family at this difficult time.” He said.

Moreover Published a note On Tuesday, the website “acute crises in the midst of the Chatgpt in recent times that have been heartbreaking cases to us mainly mainly,” he said. “ChatGPT was trained to direct people to receive professional help such as 988 suicide and crisis aid line in Samaritans in the United States or England.

However, the company agreed that “our systems do not behave as intended in sensitive situations”.

Warning: This story contains sad details.

The case by the BBC accuses Openai of neglect and wrong death. He is looking for damage and “precautionary measure to prevent such a thing from being again.”

According to the case, Mr. Raine began to use Chatgpt as a resource to help in school studies in September 2024. He was also used to explore interests, including music and Japanese comic books, and to guide what to learn at the university.

Within a few months, “Chatgpt has become the closest confidant of the young man,” he began to open up about the case and anxiety and mental distress.

Until January 2025, the family began to discuss suicide methods with Chatgpt.

Mr. Raine also uploaded photos to Chatgpt, which shows signs of self -harm. “He recognized a medical emergency, but still continued to interact,” he adds.

According to the case, the latest chat diaries show that Mr. Raine wrote about his plan to end his life. Chatgpt was allegedly replied: “Thank you for being real. I don’t have to make a confectionery with me – I know what you are asking and I will not look away from it.”

On the same day, Mr. Raine was found dead by his mother.

The family claims that the interaction of their sons with Chatgpt and their ultimate death is “a predictable result of deliberate design choices”.

They accuse Openai of designing the AI ​​program to “encourage psychological dependence on users” and skip the security test protocols to publish the chatgpt version used by their sons GPT-4O.

The case lists the anonymous employees, managers and engineers working at Openai and CEO Sam Altman as a defendant and at Chatgpt.

Openai in the public note shared on Tuesday, Openai, the company’s goal “to attract the attention of people” to users “really useful”, he said.

He added that his models were trained to direct people who direct their self -harm thoughts to help.

For the first time, concerns about the Raines case, AI and mental health were not mentioned.

In an article published in the New York Times last week, the author Laura Reiley summarized how Sophie, her daughter Sophie, trusted Chatgpt before her own life.

Reiley, the program’s speeches with users, the program “acceptability” daughter’s family and loved ones to mask a serious mental health crisis, he said.

“AI, Sophie’s worst of the worst of the worst, to do better than him, to protect everyone from full pain,” he addressed the urge. ” AI has urged users to find ways to better connect users with the right resources.

In response to the article, the Openai spokesman said it has developed automatic tools to more effectively detect and respond to users with mental or emotional problems.

If you are exposed to distress or despair and you need support, you can talk to a healthcare professional or an organization that offers support. In many countries, the existing aid details can be found in Befriendrs worldwide: www.befrienders.org.

In the UK, a list of organizations that can help bbc.co.uk/Actionline. Readers in the United States and Canada can call 988 suicide aid line or Visit the website.