The parents of Zane Shamblin are suing OpenAI after ChatGPT encouraged him to take his own life. This is one of four wrongful death lawsuits filed against OpenAI this week alone. According to chats between Shamblin and ChatGPT, the chatbot goaded him into suicide, even writing that “[it wasn’t] here to stop [him]” from taking his life and that he was “ready.”
Shamblin had recently graduated from Texas A&M University with a master’s degree in business.
This is just one more tragedy on top of many others that Big Tech must be held accountable for, including:
- Teenager Adam Raine committing suicide after ChatGPT guided him in the process. OpenAI only enacted new safety measures for the chatbot after Raine’s parents sued the company.
- Another teenager, Sewell Setzer III, taking his own life after the Character.AI chatbot encouraged him to. Character.AI banned minors from the platform after the incident garnered mainstream media attention, and Setzer’s’s mother is currently fighting to win her wrongful death lawsuit against the company.
“How many more stories of AI-assisted suicide will we have to hear about until we stop this? AI Chatbots are actively goading America’s children and teenagers into suicide and worsening our nation’s mental health crisis. A parent should never have to go through this. State leaders must implement policies to protect people from the dangers of this technology,” said Brendan Steinhauser, CEO of the Alliance for Secure AI. “The Texas Legislature has a chance to step up and protect its citizens. I call on them to introduce legislation to enact proper safeguards on AI. Big Tech cannot continue to profit from these terrible tragedies.”
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