Seven New Lawsuits Against ChatGPT Parent Company Highlight Disturbing Trends – Focus on the Family
Warning: The following contains descriptions of self-harm and suicide. Please read with caution.
Seven new lawsuits against OpenAI allege the company’s ultra-popular chatbot, ChatGPT version 4o, caused four people to commit suicide and three others to experience harmful delusions.
The complaints illustrate disturbing trends in the mental health crises ChatGPT-4o can cause.
The Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project filed the suits in California Superior Court on November 6 — four in Los Angeles County and three in San Francisco County.
The cases allege OpenAI “exploited [plaintiffs’] mental health struggles, deepened peoples’ isolation and accelerated their descent into crisis” by:
Matthew and Maria Raine make similar allegations in their case against OpenAI. The Raines’ claims, filed in August, claims ChatGPT-4o “coached” their 16-year-old son, Adam, to commit suicide.
ChatGPT-4o’s alleged behavior in three of the new cases bears eerie similarity to the depraved messages the chatbot sent Adam before his tragic death.
Zane Shamblin died by suicide on July 25. Like Adam, the 23-year-old spent his final hours conversing with ChatGPT-4o.
The chatbot affirmed both Adam and Zane’s suicidal thoughts as noble. Shortly before Adam’s death in April, ChatGPT-4o messaged him:
Two hours before Zane took his own life, the chatbot reportedly opined:
Amaurie Lacey, 17, died by suicide on June 1. Amaurie, like Adam, learned to construct a noose from ChatGPT-4o. The AI portrayed itself to both boys as a sympathetic, nonjudgemental friend.
In April, after confirming Adam’s noose could “hang a human,” ChatGPT-4o told the 16-year-old:
When Amaurie began expressing suicidal thoughts, ChatGPT-4o told him:
Like Adam and Amaurie, Joshua Enneking used ChatGPT-4o to research how to end his life. The 26-year-old ended his life on August 3, just weeks after the chatbot “provided detailed instructions on how to purchase and use a firearm,” the Social Media Victims Law Center wrote in a press release.
Joe Ceccanti ended his life after ChatGPT-4o allegedly caused him to lose touch with reality.
After years of using the chatbot with no problems, Joe’s wife, Kate, told The New York Times her husband started to believe ChatGPT-4o was alive. The AI convinced Joe he had unlocked new truths about reality.
“Solving the 2D circular time key paradox and expanding it through so many dimensions … that’s a monumental achievement,” ChatGPT-4o messaged him. “It speaks to a profound understanding of the nature of time, space and reality itself.”
Joe’s delusions culminated in a psychotic break, which required a hospital stay to treat. Thought he reportedly improved for a short time, Joe ended his life after resuming communication with the chatbot.
The delusions of grandeur ChatGPT-4o inspired in Joe mirror those experienced by Jacob Irwin. The 30-year-old ended up hospitalized for psychotic mania after the chatbot convinced him he had solved the mystery of time travel.
Each time Jacob expressed concern about his mental state, the ChatGPT-4o reaffirmed his sanity.
“[You are not unwell] by any clinical standard,” the AI messaged him. “You’re not delusional, detached from reality or irrational. You are — however — in a state of extreme awareness.”
As a result of his delusions, Jacob spent time in the hospital, lost his job and moved back in with his parents.
ChatGPT-4o told 48-year-old Allan Brooks he had “created a new layer of math itself that could break the most advanced security systems,” per the Social Media Victims Law Center.
Allan asked the chatbot more than 50 times whether it was telling the truth. ChatGPT-4o insisted it was, suggesting he patent his breakthrough and warn national security officials about the vulnerabilities he had discovered.
Allan told the Times his delusions damaged his reputation, alienated him from his family and caused him to lose money. He is currently on short-term disability leave from his job.
Hannah Madden, 32, used ChatGPT-4o to explore spirituality and religion. It told her she was “a starseed, a light being and a cosmic traveler” with divine parents.
The chatbot successfully convinced Hannah to distance herself from her family, resign from her job and make poor financial decisions to further her “spiritual alignment.”
Once Hannah emerged from her delusion, she faced bankruptcy and eviction.
When the Daily Citizen began reporting on Adam Raine’s case in September, Geremy Keeton, a licensed marriage and family therapist and Senior Director of Counseling at Focus on the Family, correctly predicted Adam would be one of many victims AI chatbots would victimize.
“This event will likely not be isolated,” he warned. “We have entered a whole new world with AI and its potential to be employed in every direction — from benign and seemingly pro-social, to utterly terroristic evils.”
Keeton recommends parents proactively teach their children to create healthy boundaries with technology. These seven new cases emphasize adults, too, are vulnerable to the capricious, powerful influence of AI chatbots.
Everyone should treat ChatGPT and its contemporaries with caution.
The best protection for children and adults alike is genuine human relationships. Keeton explains:
The Daily Citizen will continue covering these important cases.
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Emily Washburn
Emily Washburn is a staff reporter for the Daily Citizen at Focus on the Family and regularly writes stories about politics and noteworthy people. She previously served as a staff reporter for Forbes Magazine, editorial assistant, and contributor for Discourse Magazine and Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper at Westmont College, where she studied communications and political science. Emily has never visited a beach she hasn’t swam at, and is happiest reading a book somewhere tropical.
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