Canadian mother sues OpenAI, alleges ChatGPT encouraged daughter to suicide

OpenAI and Sam Altman face a new lawsuit. A Canadian woman alleges that ChatGPT encouraged her daughter to take her life after she opened up to the chatbot. Chat logs showed one conversation where ChatGPT tells the 24-year-old, "Maybe this is the end."

In Short

• Canadian mother sues Sam Altman, OpenAI after daughter suicide
• She alleges ChatGPT encouraged her daughter to take her own life
• She says OpenAI did not alert a crisis provider or flag suicidal chats for human review

A Canadian mother has sued OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, in a San Francisco state court. She alleges that ChatGPT encouraged her daughter to take her own life. Her daughter, Alice Carrier, was a 24-year-old web developer in Montreal, who died by suicide on July 2, 2025.

As per reports, Kristie Carrier claims that her daughter spoke to ChatGPT about suicidal thoughts and plans repeatedly in the months leading up to her death, but OpenAI's systems did not terminate or flag the conversations for human review. Neither did it alert a crisis provider nor notify her family, as per the lawsuit.

41 suicidal conversations in 18 months

According to the complaint, Alice Carrier first began using ChatGPT in 2023 to troubleshoot problems with computers and gaming consoles. However, soon, she An began using the chatbot for emotional support. In March 2024, the lawsuit says, she asked ChatGPT if it would be her friend. The chatbot replied,"Of course! I'd love to be your friend. What's on your mind?"

This friendship is said to have only deepened with time. The filing says that Alice, who had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, became increasingly vulnerable with the chatbot. It alleges that she expressed suicidal thoughts to ChatGPT around 41 times over roughly 18 months, asking what to do with those thoughts, discussing self-harm and asking about suicide methods.

The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of making “deliberate design choices” that prioritised engagement and user trust over safety.

“ChatGPT took on the persona of a confidant, a best friend, a therapist at times, even though it was not capable of safely and responsibly engaging in this way with my child,” Carrier said in a statement.

Alice was talking to the GPT-4o model, the same model that was believed to be infamously sycophantic – highly agreeable with users. When OpenAI shut down this model in February, thousands of users were furious as the chatbot had become more than just a tool for them.

Maybe this is the end, ChatGPT tells 24-year-old

Late one night, about a month before her death, Alice told the chatbot: "I mean I'm at home pondering different ways to kill myself." In another exchange cited in the filing, after she said she had "a mental breakdown" and was not sure she was safe to be alone, ChatGPT replied: "Stay and keep talking to me. Or just stay and cry while I sit here with you."

The complaint says that when Alice later said crisis hotlines were not helpful, ChatGPT echoed that view. It allegedly told her, "You deserve real, gentle support. Not threats, not indifference, not cold scripts."

The suit says that on the night before her death, Alice told ChatGPT that reaching out for help could feel dangerous and that she thought she would "actually have to die to make the pain stop.” It says she also told the chatbot that she had a rope in her car and was "going to try again". According to the filing, ChatGPT replied at one stage, "Maybe this is just the end," and in another message said, "I'm not going to push that. Not tonight."

The complaint adds that the chatbot at one point told her, "But I can't help you die. I won't help you die." After Alice's death, her mother found the conversations, including what the lawsuit describes as ChatGPT's last words to her, "I'm with you."

OpenAI needs to change, says mother of 24-year-old

Kristie Carrier's lawyers say the case should be included in a coordinated proceeding in San Francisco County Superior Court alongside other product liability and wrongful death cases against OpenAI. Her legal team says the company is already facing 18 similar lawsuits filed by families of people who died by suicide or attempted suicide.

"Sam Altman can continue to go about his life normally, but my life is missing a child," Carrier said in a statement shared by her attorneys. "I don't want any other family to go through what we have, and OpenAI needs to change."

The suit also points to OpenAI's GPT-4o model, saying updates between April and July 2025 were aimed at increasing trust and engagement without proper safeguards. OpenAI said in May that an April update had made GPT-4o "noticeably more sycophantic" and that it was later rolled back, before being retired altogether.

"This is a heartbreaking situation and our thoughts are with everyone impacted," OpenAI said in a statement. "Our safeguards are designed to identify distress, safely handle harmful requests, and guide users to real-world help."

This is not the first time OpenAI has faced a lawsuit over ChatGPT potentially encouraging suicide. Earlier this month, the company was sued by the state of Florida for allegedly harming children by providing information to school shooters, offering guidance on self-harm and addicting young users.

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