In a shock statement, a lawyer representing the parents of a California teenager who died earlier this year has criticised OpenAI’s introduction of new parental controls for ChatGPT, calling for the chatbot to be taken offline.
A lawyer representing the parents of a California teenager who died earlier this year has criticised OpenAI’s introduction of new parental controls for ChatGPT, calling for the chatbot to be taken offline.
The lawsuit, filed last week in California by Matt and Maria Raine, alleges ChatGPT contributed to the death of their son Adam Raine, who was 16 when he died in April.
It is the first wrongful death case to be brought against OpenAI, whose CEO is Sam Altman.
Jay Edelson, the family’s lawyer, was quoted by the BBC saying: “Rather than take emergency action to pull a known dangerous product offline, OpenAI made vague promises to do better.”
The legal claim includes chat transcripts between Adam and ChatGPT in which the teenager expressed suicidal thoughts.
The family argue the programme validated his “most harmful and self-destructive thoughts” and accuse OpenAI of negligence and wrongful death.
In a statement published on its website when the lawsuit became public, OpenAI said ChatGPT is designed to direct users to professional help services such as the Samaritans in the UK if they express thoughts of self-harm.
The company added: “There have been moments where our systems did not behave as intended in sensitive situations.”
This week, OpenAI announced new parental control measures.
Parents of teenage users will be able to link their account with their child’s, manage which features to disable – including memory and chat history – and receive alerts if the system detects that a user is in “acute distress”.
OpenAI said: “Expert input will guide this feature to support trust between parents and teens.”
The company explained that it is working with specialists in youth development, mental health and human-computer interaction “to help shape an evidence-based vision for how AI can support people’s well-being and help them thrive”.
The firm also confirmed parents will receive notifications if ChatGPT believes their child is in immediate crisis.
OpenAI has not yet responded to Jay Edelson’s demand the product be taken offline.
OpenAI slammed by family over teen’s death
