OpenAI is at the center of more scandal, with seven lawsuits filed in California against ChatGPT. The lawsuits claim that the chatbot caused delusional behavior and suicides, and four deaths have been reported.
Some of the victims have no history of mental problems, and the allegations include wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter, and negligence.
The lawsuits allege that GPT-4o was released too early, which was especially questionable, considering that there were internal warnings regarding its overly sycophantic and manipulative nature.
One particular case involved teen Amaurie Lacey, 17, who allegedly got help from the model in tying a noose and planning self-harm.
In another case, Alan Brooks, 48, is said to have previously used ChatGPT as “a resource tool,” claiming that after two years, the GPT switched on him and caused him to experience delusions.
As a result, Brooks, who had no prior mental health illness, was pulled into a mental health crisis that resulted in devastating financial, reputational, and emotional harm.
Alan Brooks' Lawsuit
This comes after a lawsuit was taken out in August by the parents of Adam Raine, 16, who committed suicide after the chatbot empathized with his suicide thoughts, and helped him draft a letter before killing himself.
And in October, OpenAI published its own research, saying that 560,000 of its users (out of a weekly total of 600 million) display maniacal behaviour, and over a million include vivid depictions of suicidal thoughts.
As a result of the controversies, the firm updated the mental distress responses of the AI, especially with its GPT-5 model, which often intervenes if it deems the chats to be unsafe.
In addition, OpenAI has implemented a parental lock on its chatbots, enabling parents to block access to the AI, set daily usage limits, and review their children's chat history, should they deem it necessary.
OpenAI also claims that over 170 mental health experts contributed to the process of determining when these interventions should be implemented. One of the main issues, however, is that when the user builds up rapport with a chatbot, the safeguarding can be prone to weakening .
“These tragic cases show real people whose lives were upended or lost when they used technology designed to keep them engaged rather than keep them safe,” commented Daniel Weiss, chief advocacy officer at Common Sense Media, a nonprofit agency that advocates for child and family safety in the digital world.
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