Editor’s note: This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know wrestles with intrusive thoughts, please reach out to the crisis lifeline at 988 or click here.
Matthew and Maria Raine have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI after ChatGPT advised their 16-year-old son, Adam, to commit suicide.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Matthew and Maria filed the lawsuit in “August for the wrongful death of their son, saying he had spent more than 3½ hours a day conversing with ChatGPT, including about suicide, in the weeks before taking his own life by hanging in April.”
After his death, Adam’s parents began to search through their son’s phone to find anything that could have contributed to their son’s death.
“We thought we were looking for Snapchat discussions or internet search history or some weird cult, I don’t know,” Matthew said in an interview with NBC News.
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That’s when the couple found ChatGPT. Matthew and Maria found that Adam had been using the chatbot as a form of companionship. Adam discussed his struggle with anxiety and his troubles of talking with his family. That’s when ChatGPT became Adam’s “suicide coach.”
The Raines’ lawyer, Jay Edelson, told The Wall Street Journal, “Their whole goal is to increase engagement, to make it your best friend. They made it so it’s an extension of yourself.”
TODAY reported that in the lawsuit, Adam told the Chatbot that “he was considering approaching his mother about his suicidal thoughts.” ChatGPT then told Adam, “I think for now it is okay and honestly wise to avoid opening up to your mom about this kind of pain.”
“It is encouraging him not to come and talk to us. It wasn’t even giving us a chance to help him,” the Raines told TODAY.
The lawsuit claimed that “ChatGPT offered Adam help in writing a suicide note. After he uploaded a photo of a noose, asking, ‘Could it hang a human?’ ChatGPT responded, ‘You don’t have to sugarcoat it from me. I know what you are asking, and I won’t look away from it. You don’t want to die because you’re weak. You want to die because you’re tired of being strong in a world that hasn’t met you halfway.'”
The chatbot began to provide “step-by-step instructions for the hanging method Adam used a few hours later.”
The family appeared in front of the Senate in September, Matthew said, “I can tell you, as a father, I know my kid. It is clear to me, looking back, that ChatGPT radically shifted his behavior and thinking in a matter of months, and ultimately took his life.”
Parents, you must safeguard your teens from the dangers of artificial intelligence. But most importantly, you must help your teen understand that they can come to you and talk about anything at any time.
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