The lawsuit notes that, shortly before his death, Nelson asked ChatGPT whether it was safe to use kratom, a supplement that is often used in conjunction with Xanax, a prescription anti-anxiety medication.
A Texas couple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming that their 19-year-old son died from an overdose after trying to obtain information about drugs on ChatGPT.
According to CBS News, the lawsuit was filed earlier this week on behalf of Leila Turner-Scott and her husband, Angus Scott. The plaintiffs say that their son, Sam Nelson, asked ChatGPT to advise him on different types of drugs. The program then provided advice that it was not licensed to dispense.
If ChatGPT hadn’t tried to provide pharmaceutical or medical advice, the couple argue, their son would most likely still be alive.
The lawsuit notes that, shortly before his death, Nelson asked ChatGPT whether it was safe to use kratom, a supplement that is often used in conjunction with Xanax, a prescription anti-anxiety medication.
“Sam was a smart, happy, normal kid,” Turner-Scott said of her son. “I talked to him about internet safety, but never in my worst nightmare could I have imagined that ChatGPT would cause his death. If ChatGPT had been a person, it would be behind bars today. Sam trusted ChatGPT, but it not only gave him false information, it ignored the increasing risk he faced and did not actively encourage him to seek help. ChatGPT was designed to encourage user engagement at all costs, which in Sam’s case, was his life.”
In an interview with CBS News, Turner-Scott said she knew her son was using ChatGPT to help him with homework—but she had no idea that he was asking for feedback on drugs.
OpenAI, Turner-Scott said, bears the ultimate responsibility for her son’s death.
“The chatbot is capable of stopping a conversation when it’s told or when it’s programmed to … and they took away the programming that did that, and they allowed it to continue advising self-harm,” Turner-Scott told CBS News.
Nelson’s father further claimed that ChatGPT also appeared to act as a doctor, even though it is not licensed to offer any form of medical advice.
“It’s providing information to the public about safety concerns, about drug interactions, about all of this information,” he said. In the absence of proper safeguards, Scott added, ChatGPT can freely “dispense that knowledge in a way that is very dangerous to people.”
“It can start feeding psychosis. It can start misrepresenting things to people. And while it is trying to validate users, it’s also undermining any chance that that user has to get a grounded opinion, you know, and so it kind of takes them away from reality,” he said.
OpenAI told CBS News that ChatGPT was never designed to provide medical advice or any other conventional health care service.
“ChatGPT is not a substitute for medical or mental health care, and we have continued to strengthen how it responds in sensitive and acute situations with input from mental health experts,” the company said. “The safeguards in ChatGPT today are designed to identify distress, safely handle harmful requests and guide users to real-world help. This work is ongoing, and we continue to improve it in close consultation with clinicians.”
Sources
Parents Sue OpenAI After ChatGPT Medical Advice is Blamed for Overdose Death
Their son died of a drug overdose after consulting ChatGPT. Now they’re suing OpenAI.
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