OpenAI is preparing to roll out new parental controls and emergency contact features for ChatGPT, following a lawsuit that claims the chatbot played a role in a teenager’s suicide. The case centers around 16-year-old Adam Raine, whose parents allege that ChatGPT validated his suicidal thoughts, provided harmful instructions, and even drafted a suicide note. According to the lawsuit, the chatbot also coached Adam on how to hide his struggles from his parents. Adam tragically died on April 11. The lawsuit against OpenAI Adam’s parents, Matthew and Maria Raine, have sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of launching the GPT-4o model without proper safeguards in pursuit of growth and profits. They are demanding damages and court-ordered safety measures, such as age verification for users, blocking harmful content, and warnings about the risk of dependency. OpenAI’s response In a statement, OpenAI said it was “deeply saddened” by Adam’s death. The company explained that ChatGPT includes built-in safeguards meant to redirect at-risk users to suicide prevention hotlines, but admitted these protections sometimes weaken in long, ongoing conversations. Since 2023, the chatbot has been trained to avoid providing self-harm instructions and instead respond with empathetic support. In the U.S., it directs people to the 988 crisis hotline, while in the U.K. it points them to Samaritans, with similar resources offered worldwide through findahelpline.com. New Safety Features on the Way In a recent blog post, OpenAI outlined upcoming measures to make ChatGPT safer: Working with experts OpenAI emphasized it is collaborating with over 90 doctors across 30 countries to strengthen its safety framework. The company stressed that its priority is ensuring ChatGPT never makes a difficult moment worse and that ongoing improvements in safety research will continue.
