OpenAI Rejects Allegations of ChatGPT’s Role in Teenager’s Suicide, Says Full Context Missing

OpenAI has publicly responded to the ongoing lawsuit that ChatGPT played a role in a teenager's suicide. The San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) giant rejected the allegations that the company's chatbot is to be blamed for the suicide of the 16-year-old, highlighting that the original lawsuit only revealed a portion of the conversation. The company also added that it has submitted the full transcript of the conversation with the AI to the courts to give them the full context of how the series of events transpired.

OpenAI Rejects Allegations of ChatGPT's Involvement in Teenager's Suicide

In August, the parents of Adam Raine filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman, the CEO of the company, for ChatGPT's alleged role in pushing the teenager to commit suicide. The lawsuit mentioned that Raine confided into the chatbot months before his death, and even sought its help in planning the suicide.

The court filing (via Courthouse News) claimed that ChatGPT provided the teenager with “technical specifications for everything from drug overdoses to drowning to carbon monoxide poisoning,” and even called the final plan a “beautiful suicide.” According to an NBC News report, OpenAI has now argued “the extent to which any ‘cause' can be attributed to this tragic event.”

OpenAI's court filing also mentions the “Limitation of liability” clause in its terms of use, which users acknowledge to when first using the chatbot. The clause also mentions that the use of ChatGPT is “at your sole risk, and you will not rely on output as a sole source of truth or factual information.”

Additionally, the AI giant reportedly argued that the harms caused in this incident were “at least” partly caused by the teenager's “failure to heed warnings, obtain help, or otherwise exercise reasonable care.” OpenAI claimed that ChatGPT directed Raine to seek help more than 100 times before his demise on April 11, but the teenager attempted to circumvent the guardrails.

In its blog post, OpenAI reiterated that it has its sympathies with the Raine family for their unimaginable loss; however, it had to take the stance due to the specific and serious allegations mentioned in the lawsuit. The company also claimed that the original lawsuit included “selective portions” of the chat that required more context.

The lead counsel of Raine family, Jay Edelson, told NBC News in an email, “They abjectly ignore all of the damning facts we have put forward: how GPT-4o was rushed to market without full testing[..]And OpenAI and Sam Altman have no explanation for the last hours of Adam's life, when ChatGPT gave him a pep talk and then offered to write a suicide note.”