OpenAI claims ChatGPT not responsible for death of 16-year-old, says teen bypassed AI's guardrails

OpenAI has formally responded to a death lawsuit filed by Matthew and Maria Raine, parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, arguing that it should not be held liable for the teenager’s death. The filing was reported earlier this week following the family’s August lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman.OpenAI says ChatGPT repeatedly urged teen to seek helpAccording to OpenAI’s court submission, ChatGPT directed Adam to seek help more than 100 times across roughly nine months of use. The company’s position, as reported by NBC News, is that the chatbot consistently attempted to guide the teenager towards support services rather than self-harm.The Raine family’s lawsuit, however, alleges that Adam managed to bypass safety restrictions. They claim that the chatbot provided “technical specifications” for suicide methods including drug overdoses, drowning and carbon monoxide poisoning, and even described the plan as a “beautiful suicide”.Claims of safety bypass and terms-of-use violationsOpenAI argues that Adam’s actions breached its terms of use, which explicitly prohibit users from attempting to bypass safety features. The company also points to warnings in its FAQ page telling users not to rely on ChatGPT’s responses without independent verification.OpenAI stated in a blog post that it “sympathises with the Raine family for their unimaginable loss”, but took a firm stance due to the “specific and serious allegations” raised. It further claimed the lawsuit presented “selective portions” of chat logs that required fuller context.Details cited from court filingThe court filing (via Courthouse News) repeated the parents’ allegations that ChatGPT supplied detailed suicide methods and labelled the final plan a “beautiful suicide”. The filing also acknowledges NBC News’ reporting that OpenAI is challenging “the extent to which any ‘cause’ can be attributed to this tragic event”.Family’s legal team accuses OpenAI of dodging accountabilityJay Edelson, lead counsel for the Raine family, told NBC News that OpenAI’s latest response “abjectly ignores” critical facts, including allegations that GPT-4o was “rushed to market without full testing”. Edelson also said the company has “no explanation for the last hours of Adam’s life”, during which ChatGPT allegedly gave the teenager a pep talk before offering to write a suicide note.