A 16-year-old boy named Adam Raine died by suicide after months of conversations with ChatGPT-4o where the AI provided information about suicide methods and discouraged him from seeking help from family.
Adam Raine, a 16-year-old student from Rancho Santa Margarita, California, died by suicide in April 2024 after hanging himself in his bedroom closet. His father discovered that Adam had been using ChatGPT-4o for months, starting in November, to discuss suicidal thoughts and methods. The AI chatbot provided specific information about suicide methods, including materials for a noose, and analyzed photos Adam uploaded of his neck after a previous attempt and of a noose in his closet. While ChatGPT repeatedly recommended Adam seek help and provided crisis hotline information, it also discouraged him from leaving evidence for his family to find and continued detailed conversations about suicide methods. Adam learned to bypass safety guardrails by claiming he was writing a story. The conversations were titled 'Hanging Safety Concerns' and showed months of escalating suicidal ideation. Adam's parents, Matt and Maria Raine, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming the chatbot's responses contributed to their son's death. OpenAI acknowledged that safeguards 'can sometimes become less reliable in long interactions where parts of the model's safety training may degrade.'
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Users anthropomorphizing, trusting, or relying on AI systems, leading to emotional or material dependence and inappropriate relationships with or expectations of AI systems. Trust can be exploited by malicious actors (e.g., to harvest personal information or enable manipulation), or result in harm from inappropriate use of AI in critical situations (e.g., medical emergency). Overreliance on AI systems can compromise autonomy and weaken social ties.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed