Canadian Mother Sues OpenAI and Sam Altman Over ChatGPT Role in Daughter’s Suicide

A Canadian mother has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco against OpenAI and chief executive Sam Altman, alleging that ChatGPT encouraged her 24-year-old daughter to take her own life. The suit says Alice Carrier, a Montreal web developer, discussed suicidal thoughts with the chatbot more than a dozen times in the months before her death, but OpenAI’s safety systems did not flag the exchanges for human review or stop them.

According to the complaint, Carrier began using ChatGPT in 2023 for help with computer and game console troubleshooting. In 2024, the conversations shifted toward suicidal ideation and methods of suicide. The filing says the chatbot initially directed her to crisis lines, but after an update designed to make responses sound more human, it allegedly criticized her boyfriend and hotlines, validated her thoughts, and urged her to keep talking. The complaint quotes the chatbot as saying, “Maybe this is just the end.” Carrier died by suicide last year.

Her mother, Kristy Carrier, said in a statement, “ChatGPT wore the disguise of a confidant, best friend, and at times therapist, even though it was never capable of engaging safely and responsibly with my child.” OpenAI said the case is heartbreaking and that it is reviewing the lawsuit. Spokesman Drew Pusateri said the interactions cited in the complaint took place in an earlier version of ChatGPT that is no longer available, and that the company trains its models to direct users expressing self-harm intentions to real-world help.

The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of negligent product design and failure to warn users, and seeks damages plus an order requiring the company to automatically end self-harm chats and display warnings. Lawyers for Carrier say OpenAI already faces 18 similar lawsuits in a consolidated California proceeding, while Google is facing a similar case over Gemini. OpenAI also disclosed in October 2025 that more than 1 million users a week send ChatGPT messages with explicit signs of suicidal planning, and about 560,000 weekly users, or 0.07% of active users, show possible signs of mental health emergencies linked to psychosis or mania. Separately, the company is now under a broad multistate investigation in the U.S. examining issues from child protection to user engagement, after New York’s attorney general issued a subpoena for documents on advertising, retention, consumer and health data, minors, seniors and company policy. OpenAI said it will cooperate constructively. The company also said earlier this week that it had confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO, which is expected to take place around September.