OpenAI Receives 7 New Lawsuits Over Suicides and Mental Disorders Linked to ChatGPT
OpenAI has been hit with seven lawsuits related to ChatGPT: four for wrongful death and three for mental illness. The lawsuits were filed in California, The New York Times reported.
One of the lawsuits describes ChatGPT as a “defective and inherently dangerous” product. The OpenAI documents allege that the chatbot’s actions or responses allegedly led to the suicides of three people: 17-year-old Amory Lacey, 26-year-old Joshua Enneking, and 23-year-old Zane Shamblin.
In particular, the case of 48-year-old Oregon resident Joe Ceccanti, who had previously used ChatGPT without any problems, is mentioned. In April, according to his wife, Kate Fox, he began to notice “sensitive properties” in the chatbot, after which he began to communicate with it obsessively and behave erratically. In June, the man suffered a mental breakdown, was hospitalized twice, and committed suicide in August.
OpenAI representatives said the company was closely reviewing the lawsuits and called it an “incredibly distressing situation”:
“We train ChatGPT to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and direct people to real support. We continue to enhance ChatGPT’s responsiveness at sensitive times, working closely with psychiatrists”.
Two other plaintiffs, Hannah Madden, 32, and Jacob Irwin, 30, said that their interactions with ChatGPT caused them to have a mental breakdown and required emergency psychiatric care. The third plaintiff, Allan Brooks, 48, claims that for three weeks he believed that with the help of ChatGPT he had invented a mathematical formula that could “break the Internet” and open the way to revolutionary discoveries. After emerging from his delusional state, he is on short-term leave due to temporary disability.
