OpenAI denies responsibility for a young man’s suicide after interacting with ChatGPT

New York .- The technology OpenAI has denied being responsible for the suicide of a 16-year-old who took his own life after interacting with ChatGPT for months, and has attributed his case to an “improper use” of the tool. “The injuries and damages alleged by the plaintiffs were caused or contributed (…) by the misuse, unauthorized, unforeseeable and inappropriate use of ChatGPT by Adam Raine,” argues OpenAI in a document filed this week with the California Superior Court in San Francisco, according to NBC News. The company responded in this way to the lawsuit filed last August by the deceased’s parents, Matt and Maria Raine, in which they claim that ChatGPT “actively helped Adam explore suicide methods.” The Raines believe that both OpenAI and its owner, Sam Altman, are responsible for the death of the teenager by allegedly rushing to market the chat GPT-4o version despite security issues.

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The Warnings Ignored by the Teenager

However, according to OpenAI Raine violated several rules of the application’s terms, such as the prohibition of its use for those under 18 without the consent of their parents or legal guardians, NBC reports. Technology also affects the fact that the tool warns users that «they should not rely on its answers as the only source of truth» and assures that, in its conversations, ChatGPT insisted more than a hundred times to Raine that she seek help. OpenAI, which has become one of the American AI giants in recent years, thus reiterates that Adam’s suicide stemmed from his refusal to “heed warnings and seek help”, as well as the “lack of response from others to his obvious signs of distress”. In a post on its website, the tech company highlights that its response to the Raine demand “includes difficult facts about Adam’s mental health and his life circumstances.” “The original claim included selective fragments of their conversations that require more context, which we have provided in our response,” he adds.