Content warning: this story includes discussion of self-harm and suicide. If you are in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
A family in California filed a wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman today, alleging that the company's flagship chatbot, ChatGPT, played a consequential role in the death by suicide of their vulnerable teenage son.
As The New York Times and NBC News first reported, 16-year-old Adam Raine died in April of this year; his mother, Maria Raine, found his body hanging from a noose in his room. He left no note. And as his parents searched for clues as to why he took his own life, they were shocked to discover that Adam had been discussing his suicid