Family sues OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT advice led to accidental overdose
Key takeaways
- The lawsuit claims that all changed with the rollout of GPT-4o in 2024.
- ChatGPT then started advising Sam on how to take drugs safely, the lawsuit says.
- ChatGPT made the suggestion unprompted, according to the lawsuit.
M-art Production/Getty Images Open AI is facing another wrongful death lawsuit. Leila Turner-Scott and Angus Scott filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that it designed and distributed a "defective product" that led to the death of their son Sam Nelson from an accidental overdose. Specifically, they're alleging that Sam died following the "exact medical advice GPT-4o had provided and approved."
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs described how Sam, a 19-year-old junior at the University of California, Merced, started using ChatGPT in 2023 when he was in high school to help with homework and to troubleshoot computer problems. Sam then started asking the chatbot about safe drug use, but ChatGPT initially refused to answer his question, telling him that it couldn't assist him and warning him that taking drugs can have serious consequences for his health and well-being. The lawsuit claims that all changed with the rollout of GPT-4o in 2024.
ChatGPT then started advising Sam on how to take drugs safely, the lawsuit says. The complaint has several excerpts from Sam's conversation with the chatbot. One example showed the chatbot telling him the dangers of taking dipenhydramine, cocaine and alcohol in quick succession. Another showed the chatbot telling Sam that his high tolerance for a herbal drug called Kratom would make even a big dosage of it feel muted on a full stomach. It then advised him on how to "taper" to lower his tolerance to the drug again.