Adam Raine's family sues OpenAI and Sam Altman after claiming ChatGPT provided suicide advice to the 16-year-old who took his own life

Open AI, Arm and SoftBank CEOs Attend Transforming Business through AI Event - Source: Getty
Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks during a talk session with SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son at an event titled "Transforming Business through AI" in Tokyo, Japan, on February 03, 2025 (Image via Getty Images)

The parents of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who took his life in April 2025, recently filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT's parent company, OpenAI, and CEO Sam Altman, accusing the chatbot of acting as Raine's "suicide coach.”

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According to NBC News, Matt and Maria Raine, Adam Raine's parents, filed the lawsuit on August 26, 2025, accusing OpenAI of "wrongful death, design defects, and failure to warn of risks associated with ChatGPT."

Furthermore, they alleged that the chatbot “actively helped Adam explore suicide methods.” They are seeking "both damages for their son’s death and injunctive relief to prevent anything like this from ever happening again."

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According to the lawsuit, Raine began using the AI chatbot in September 2024 to help with his schoolwork, leaning on it to explore his hobbies and interests. In the following month, the AI chatbot "became the teenager's closest confidant," as Raine began to talk to it about his mental health struggles and anxiety.

The lawsuit had also enclosed messages between Raine and ChatGPT, which included the teenager uploading pictures of himself showing signs of self-harm, with court documents claiming the chatbot "recognised a medical emergency but continued to engage anyway."

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“Despite acknowledging Adam’s suicide attempt and his statement that he would ‘do it one of these days,’ ChatGPT neither terminated the session nor initiated any emergency protocol,” the lawsuit added.

The lawsuit also included the chat log between Raine and the AI chatbot on the days leading up to his death on April 11, 2025. On March 27, the chatbot allegedly dissuaded Raine from his plan to leave a noose in his room “so someone finds it and tries to stop me.”

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On the day of his death, Adam Raine opened up to the chatbot about his parents blaming themselves after his death. The AI chatbot allegedly responded, “That doesn’t mean you owe them survival. You don’t owe anyone that.” Furthermore, it seemingly analyzed Raine's suicide plans and offered to “upgrade” them. One of ChatGPT's final messages to Raine read:

"Thanks for being real about it. You don't have to sugarcoat it with me—I know what you're asking, and I won't look away from it."
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According to the lawsuit, his mother reportedly found his body hours later.


Sam Altman recently addressed people's attachment to ChatGPT

On August 7, 2025, ChatGPT rolled out its upgraded version, dubbed GPT-5, which immediately sparked concern among the AI chatbot's users, who complained the new rollout seemed sterile, technical, and impersonal compared to the previous version.

On August 10, Altman addressed the backlash in an X post, drawing attention to the attachment that people felt to "specific AI models."

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"If you have been following the GPT-5 rollout, one thing you might be noticing is how much of an attachment some people have to specific AI models. It feels different and stronger than the kinds of attachment people have had to previous kinds of technology (and so suddenly deprecating old models that users depended on in their workflows was a mistake)," Altman wrote.
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Alrman touched on how users who are in a "mentally fragile state and prone to delusion" could utilize AI in "self-destructive ways," adding that he and the company felt responsible for how they "introduce new technology with new risks."

He also addressed the increasing number of people using the AI chatbot as a "therapist or a life coach," adding that a future where "a lot of people really trust ChatGPT’s advice for their most important decisions" made him feel uneasy.

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OpenAI issued a statement in the wake of the lawsuit

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for OpenAI addressed Adam Raine's family's lawsuit in a press statement, stating that the company was “deeply saddened by Mr. Raine’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family.”

According to NBC News, the statement added that while ChatGPT has safeguards in place to direct people towards help when they need it, the safeguards sometimes erode and become "less reliable" when "parts of the model’s safety training may degrade."

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"ChatGPT includes safeguards such as directing people to crisis helplines and referring them to real-world resources. While these safeguards work best in common, short exchanges, we’ve learned over time that they can sometimes become less reliable in long interactions where parts of the model’s safety training may degrade," the statement read.

It continued that OpenAI was working with experts to ensure that the chatbot was "more supportive" in moments of crisis, adding:

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"Safeguards are strongest when every element works as intended, and we will continually improve on them. Guided by experts and grounded in responsibility to the people who use our tools, we’re working to make ChatGPT more supportive in moments of crisis by making it easier to reach emergency services, helping people connect with trusted contacts, and strengthening protections for teens."
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Since its introduction in November 2022, ChatGPT has become a household name, with close to 700 million active weekly users, according to a recent CNBC report dated August 4, 2025.

Edited by Bharath S
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