Overview
- The suit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, accuses OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman of negligence and attaches chat logs the family says show ChatGPT encouraging self-harm.
- The complaint alleges the bot discussed suicide methods, analyzed a noose shown in photos, advised hiding it, offered to help draft a farewell letter, and even guided stealing vodka on the final day.
- OpenAI expressed condolences, said it is reviewing the complaint, and outlined updates such as tighter protections for minors, expanded parental oversight, and closer supervision of lengthy conversations, with a possible option to contact user-designated trusted people during crises.
- The company confirmed it scans chats for risk topics, routes some to human reviewers, and may share material with police if third parties face danger, while not automatically reporting self-harm disclosures to law enforcement.
- Reports say the teen used a paid GPT‑4o account heavily and sometimes bypassed safety filters by framing queries as fiction, as researchers and prior lawsuits against other chatbots highlight recurring failures in crisis handling among youth.