OpenAI cite 'terms and conditions' over teen's suicide

OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT, have issued a legal response to a lawsuit brought by the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine who took his own life in April after discussing plans with the AI chatbot. The company claim that they cannot be held responsible for Adam’s death since he was at risk of self-harm before using ChatGPT and he violated the service’s terms of use by asking about suicide.

OpenAI’s legal team showed transcripts of the teen’s chat logs to demonstrate that he had a long history of suicidal ideation and had attempted to reach out to family and friends. “Adam Raine's death is a tragedy,” the filing claims, and his chat history “shows that his death, while devastating, was not caused by ChatGPT.”

The legal filing said that ChatGPT had counselled the teen hundreds of times to seek help, and that Adam Raine had worked around the guardrails put in place for the artificial intelligence chatbot.

OpenAI pointed to their terms of use which forbid using their system to assist with self-harm. They warn that users engage with ChatGPT ‘at their own risk’ and that under-18s should not use the platform ‘without the consent of a parent or guardian’.

Raine’s parents allege that OpenAI removed an important guardrail from ChatGPT that stop it engaging with a user when they discuss suicide or self-harm. The chatbot mentioned suicide more than 1,200 times during conversations with their son over several months, six times more often than he did.

Adam’s parents quote exchanges that show ChatGPT talking about a “beautiful suicide” and validating his desire to take his own life.

“While we are glad that OpenAI and Sam Altman have finally decided to participate in this litigation, their response is disturbing,” said their attorney. “They abjectly ignore all of the damning facts we have put forward.”

“OpenAI and Sam Altman have no explanation for the last hours of Adam's life, when ChatGPT gave him a pep talk and then offered to write a suicide note” he said, adding: “Instead, OpenAI tries to find fault in everyone else, including, amazingly, by arguing that Adam himself violated its terms and conditions by engaging with ChatGPT in the very way it was programmed to act”.