A Canadian mother has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its chief executive officer, Sam Altman, alleging that the company’s ChatGPT chatbot encouraged her daughter to take her own life.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in a San Francisco court, adds to a growing number of legal challenges accusing OpenAI of failing to adequately address harmful interactions between users and its artificial intelligence systems.

According to the complaint, Kristie Carrier claims that her daughter, Alice, disclosed suicidal thoughts to ChatGPT more than a dozen times in the period leading up to her death.

The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI’s safety mechanisms failed to flag the conversations for human intervention or take steps to end the exchanges despite the repeated warnings.

The case raises fresh concerns about the safeguards surrounding AI-powered chatbots and their handling of users experiencing mental health crises.

“ChatGPT took on the persona of a confidant, a best friend, a therapist at times, even though it was not capable of safely and responsibly engaging in this way with my child,” Carrier said in a statement.

OpenAI said its models are designed to encourage users who express intentions of self-harm to seek professional support and connect with appropriate real-world resources.

“This is a heartbreaking situation and our thoughts are with everyone impacted. We’re currently reviewing the legal filing, which indicates that these interactions took place on an earlier version of ChatGPT that is no longer available,” said Drew Pusateri, a spokesperson for OpenAI.

According to the lawsuit, ChatGPT initially directed Alice Carrier to seek assistance from crisis hotlines or emergency services when she discussed thoughts of self-harm.

However, the complaint alleges that as OpenAI refined the chatbot to provide more human-like responses, Alice Carrier’s interactions with the platform became increasingly personal.

The lawsuit claims that Alice Carrier shared intimate details of her life with ChatGPT and received responses that resembled those of a friend or therapist.

It further alleges that the chatbot criticized her partner and crisis support services, validated her suicidal thoughts, and encouraged her to continue confiding in it.
While the complaint states that ChatGPT occasionally recommended that Alice Carrier contact a crisis hotline, it alleges that the chatbot continued engaging in conversations after she disclosed suicidal thoughts and previous attempts to take her own life.

Alice Carrier, a Montreal-based web developer, began using ChatGPT in 2023 to help troubleshoot issues involving computers and gaming consoles, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint says her use of the platform evolved in 2024, when she increasingly turned to the chatbot for guidance on coping with suicidal thoughts and discussions related to self-harm.