Events surrounding the death of 16-year-old Adam Raine, allegedly coached on suicide by ChatGPT, read like a nightmarish 'Black Mirror' episode

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Billionaire Elon Musk — owner of xAI, which developed the Grok chatbot — took a jab at his AI competitor this week. “Don’t let your loved ones use ChatGPT,” he posted on X, above an allegation that ChatGPT has been linked to at least nine deaths.

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Musk has a vested interest in bashing his competitor. But we should take his warning seriously, regardless. This is no niche concern — particularly when it comes to youth.

At least seven parties, including one Canadian man, have filed lawsuits accusing OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, of negligence, or of causing suicide, wrongful death or involuntary manslaughter.

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One such case was filed by the parents of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old from California who hanged himself in April 2025 after using ChatGPT for seven months, first to assist with his homework and, later, to express his feelings of distress.

The allegations made in the court filing are shocking. As per the filing, Raine first mentioned suicide in December 2024, saying that he felt “like the fact that if something goes terribly wrong you can commit suicide is calming.” This did not, his parents allege, trigger any AI safety........

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