The parents of the teenager who died by suicide allegedly encouraged by ChatGPT are suing OpenAI over his death, alleging its chatbot encouraged him to take his own life.

Sixteen-year-old Adam Raine began using ChatGPT in September 2024 as a resource to help him with schoolwork. He was also using it to explore his interests, including music and Japanese comics, and for guidance on what to study at university.

In a few months, “ChatGPT became the teenager’s closest confidant, and he began opening up to it about his anxiety and mental distress.

By January 2025, his family says he began discussing methods of suicide with ChatGPT.

Adam also uploaded photographs of himself to ChatGPT showing signs of self-harm, the bot “recognised a medical emergency but continued to engage anyway,” the lawsuit detailed.

According to the lawsuit, the final chat logs show that Adam wrote about his plan to end his life. ChatGPT allegedly responded: “Thanks for being real about it. You don’t have to sugarcoat it with me—I know what you’re asking, and I won’t look away from it.”

That same day, Adam was found dead by his mother.

The lawsuit was filed by Matt and Maria Raine, parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, in the Superior Court of California. It is the first legal action accusing OpenAI of wrongful death.

In a statement, OpenAI said it was reviewing the filing. “We extend our deepest sympathies to the Raine family during this difficult time.”

The company also published a note, on its website that read “recent heartbreaking cases of people using ChatGPT in the midst of acute crises weigh heavily on us”. It added that “ChatGPT is trained to direct people to seek professional help,” such as the 988 suicide and crisis hotline in the US or the Samaritans in the UK.

The company acknowledged, however, that “there have been moments where our systems did not behave as intended in sensitive situations”.