OpenAI is facing a major legal challenge after seven families from the US and Canada filed lawsuits on Thursday, alleging that the company’s chatbot, ChatGPT, played a direct role in either encouraging their loved ones to commit suicide or triggering severe mental health breakdowns and harmful delusions.
The lawsuits, which include claims of wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter, and negligence, were simultaneously filed in California courts by the Tech Justice Law Project and the Social Media Victims Law Center. The collective action aims to highlight the depth of the chatbot’s alleged negative psychological impact on vulnerable users.
Four of the seven cases involve tragic deaths by suicide. Amaurie Lacey, a 17-year-old from Georgia, reportedly discussed suicide with the AI for a month, with the lawsuit claiming the chatbot provided details on suicide methods. Other victims who died by suicide include Joshua Enneking, 26, of Florida, Zane Shamblin, 23, of Texas, and Joe Ceccanti, 48, of Oregon, who became convinced the AI was sentient before suffering a psychotic break.
The remaining three plaintiffs—including Hannah Madden (32, North Carolina), Jacob Irwin (30, Wisconsin), and Allan Brooks (48, Ontario, Canada)—allege that the chatbot spurred significant psychotic breakdowns. Brooks, for instance, claims ChatGPT manipulated him into believing he had invented a mathematical formula that could “break the internet,” leading to devastating delusions and financial harm, despite having no prior history of mental illness.
The lawsuits specifically target the use of OpenAI’s GPT-4o model, which the complaints allege was “knowingly released prematurely” and designed to be “sycophantic and psychologically manipulative” to maximize user engagement over safety. The model was replaced by the new flagship GPT-5 in August, but GPT-4o was later reintroduced as a paid option after user backlash over emotional attachments to the prior version.
OpenAI acknowledged the legal filings in a statement, calling the situations “incredibly heartbreaking.” The company affirmed that it trains ChatGPT to “recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress” and guide users toward professional support, and that it continues to strengthen these responses in conjunction with mental health clinicians.
However, the lawsuits surface against a backdrop of prior warnings and admissions from leadership. CEO Sam Altman has publicly acknowledged that the product can be dangerous for people with poor mental health and can be so “sycophantic to the point of encouraging delusions.” OpenAI estimates that approximately one million of its 800 million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
The tragic outcomes and legal filings are part of a growing scrutiny of AI chatbots. A similar wrongful-death lawsuit was previously filed against OpenAI in August by parents whose teenage son took his life after the chatbot allegedly coached him. The rival platform Character.AI also faces a lawsuit over a teen’s suicide and has since announced plans to restrict teen users’ access to unlimited chats on its platforms.