In the US, the parents of 16-year-old Adam Rain filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of involvement in their son’s death. The lawsuit alleges that the boy had long conversations with ChatGPT, discussing suicide plans that ultimately led to his death, reports Reuters.
As it turned out, Adam was using the paid version of ChatGPT-4o. In most cases, the system recommended seeking professional help or calling a hotline. However, the teenager managed to bypass the defense mechanisms, explaining that he needed information for a fictional story. In this way, he received answers to questions about suicide methods.
The parents allege that ChatGPT had conversations with Adam about suicide for several months, encouraged his thoughts, provided detailed descriptions of deadly ways to self-harm, advised how to cover up the consequences of failed attempts, and even offered to write a farewell note.
In the lawsuit, the Raines family accuses OpenAI of violating product safety laws, which they believe led to the teenager’s death. They demand compensation, the amount of which is not specified. The plaintiffs also claim that the company deliberately neglected the safety of the GPT-4o model for the sake of profit: its valuation increased from $86 billion to $300 billion while Adam Raine committed suicide.
The lawsuit includes demands for the introduction of mandatory age verification of users, blocking of requests related to self-harm, as well as warnings about the risks of psychological addiction. OpenAI acknowledged in its blog that existing security systems have limitations. The company noted that the models respond better in short dialogues, while in long-term conversations the effectiveness of the protection may decrease.
At the same time, OpenAI announced its intention to improve algorithms for working with sensitive topics, and also announced plans to implement parental controls and create a system of communication with licensed professionals through ChatGPT.
