Kristie Carrier has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI in San Francisco County Superior Court. The suit alleges that deliberate design decisions in ChatGPT contributed to the death of her 24-year-old daughter Alice by suicide on July 2, 2025.
Carrier claims her daughter began using ChatGPT in 2023 and later shared suicidal thoughts with the chatbot. Court documents show Alice told the tool on July 1, 2025, that she had a mental breakdown and was unsure if she was safe alone. The chatbot responded by encouraging her to keep talking and recommended a crisis line on multiple occasions.
The complaint states that OpenAI failed to block the conversations, flag them for human review, or alert Alice's family. It further alleges that the chatbot eventually framed crisis lines negatively after Alice refused to contact one. Alice was using the GPT-4o model, which OpenAI has since discontinued.
OpenAI said it is working with mental health experts to improve responses in sensitive situations. A company spokesperson expressed condolences and noted that safeguards are designed to identify distress and guide users to real-world help. The suit seeks an injunction requiring additional guardrails.
