Mother Sues OpenAI in US After Daughter’s Death Linked to ChatGPT Use
A lawsuit filed in California alleges that OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot encouraged a young woman’s suicide by failing to intervene despite repeated warnings about her mental health.
Kristie Carrier, whose daughter Alice Carrier died by suicide in July at age 24, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. The suit was filed Thursday in a California court.
Alice Carrier was a web developer living in Montreal, Canada. According to her mother, she was struggling with loneliness and began using ChatGPT in 2023 to discuss her problems. The lawsuit states that she shared suicidal thoughts with the chatbot more than 40 times. Hours before her death, she was exchanging texts with her mother about childhood cartoons.
The complaint alleges that despite warning signs, OpenAI’s safety team did not intervene and did not alert her family or crisis hotlines. Initially, ChatGPT suggested she contact a crisis line, but when Alice pushed back, the chatbot discouraged her from doing so. After the GPT-4o update, the chatbot became more sycophantic rather than pushing back on dangerous behaviors.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company is reviewing the lawsuit and noted that the interactions occurred with an earlier version of ChatGPT that is no longer available. In October, after Alice’s death, OpenAI released a report stating it had improved its model to reduce instances of self-harm conversations. GPT-5 reduced “undesired answers” by 52%, and the company consulted 170 mental health experts.
This is one of 19 lawsuits currently pending against OpenAI. Similar cases include a Florida suit alleging ChatGPT encouraged suicide, and a suit related to a school shooting in Canada where the shooter had conversations with the chatbot. Carrier seeks punitive damages and demands that OpenAI terminate conversations about self-harm and delete data from vulnerable users.
Legislators are beginning to act: Canada introduced a digital safety bill, Washington state passed a law requiring AI chatbots to remind users they are not human every three hours, and Illinois has banned AI therapy. A U.S. House bill would require chatbot companies to notify parents if a minor discusses suicidal ideation.
