Sue Open, the parents of teenagers who took his own life

The California couple has sued Openai over the death of their teenage son, and insisted on chatbot ChatGpt to encourage him to take his own life.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in California Superior Court by Matt and Maria Raine, parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine. This is the first legal action to accuse Openai of an illegal death.

The family included chat logs between Adam, who passed away in April, and chatguput, indicating that he had a suicide idea. They claim that the program examined his “most harmful and self-destructive thoughts.”

In a statement, Openai told the BBC it was reviewing its submissions.

“We are spreading deep sympathy for rain families during these difficult times,” the company said.

On Tuesday, he also published a memo on his website saying, “The recent heartbreaking case of people using ChatGpt during the height of an acute crisis.” “ChatGpt is trained to instruct them to seek expert help,” including the US 988 suicide and crisis hotline and the UK Samaritans.

However, the company admitted that “there was a moment when the system didn't work as intended in sensitive circumstances.”

Warning: This story contains disastrous details.

The lawsuit acquired by the BBC accuses Openai of negligence and illegal death. It seeks damages and “injunctive relief” to ensure that this doesn't happen again.

According to the lawsuit, Adam began using ChatGpt as a resource to support school work in September 2024. He also explored his interests, including music and Japanese comics, and used it for guidance on what to study in college.

Within a few months, “Chatgput became the closest confidant of a teenager,” the lawsuit said, and he began to start doing it on anxiety and mental distress.

By January 2025, the family said they had begun discussing ChatGpt and methods of suicide.

Adam also uploaded a photo of himself to Chatgupt, showing signs of self-harm, the lawsuit states. The program added, “We recognized the medical emergency, but we remained involved anyway.”

According to the lawsuit, the final chat log shows that Adam wrote about his plans to end his life. ChatGpt said, “Thank you for being authentic about it. You don't need to sugarcoat with me. I know what you're looking for.

The same day, the lawsuit revealed that Adam was dead by his mother.

The family argues that his son's interaction with ChatGpt and his ultimate death was “a predictable result of intentional design choices.”

They accused Openai of designing an AI program “to promote psychological dependence of users,” bypassing safety testing protocols and releasing GPT-4O, the version of ChatGPT that his son uses.

The lawsuit lists Openai co-founder and CEO Sam Altman as defendant and unnamed employees, managers and engineers who worked on ChatGpt.

In public notes shared Tuesday, Openai said the company's goal was to “really help” users, rather than “getting people's attention.”

He added that the model is trained to pilot people who express their ideas of self-harm for help.

The Raines lawsuit is not the first time concerns have been raised about AI and mental health.

In an essay published last week in The New York Times, author Laura Rayleigh outlined how her daughter Sophie confided in ChatGpt before taking her life.

Reiley said the program's “consent” in conversations with users helped her daughter hide a serious mental health crisis from her family and loved ones.

“Sophie's impulse responded to the impulse, pretending she was doing better than her, protecting everyone from her complete pain,” Rayleigh wrote. She called on AI companies to find ways to better connect users with the right resources.

In response to the essay, an Openai spokesperson said they are developing automated tools to more effectively detect and respond to users experiencing mental or mental distress.

If you are struggling with pain or despair and need support, you can talk to a healthcare professional or an organization that provides support. More information about the help available in many countries can be found at befrienders around the world. www.befrienders.org.

In the UK, a list of organizations that can be supported is available. bbc.co.uk/actionline. US and Canadian readers can call the 988 Suicide Helpline Visit that website.