"A new report from OpenAI revealed that an estimated 1.2 million people a week have conversations with ChatGPT that indicate they are considering taking their own lives. The figure comes from its parent company, OpenAI, which says around 0.15% of users active in a given week have conversations that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning. Earlier in October, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that ChatGPT has reached 800 million weekly active users."
"The company says its tools are trained to direct people to professional resources such as crisis helplines, but admits this doesn't happen 9% of the time. This report comes as both OpenAI and Character.ai face scrutiny, backlash and lawsuits over teen suicides. In August 2025, a California family filed a lawsuit against OpenAI over the death of their 16-year-old son, Adam Raine, alleging its chatbot, ChatGPT, encouraged him to take his own life."
"Similarly, lawsuits from New York to Colorado were launched by multiple families, suing Character Technologies, Inc., the developer of Character.AI backed by Google Ventures, alleging that their children died by or attempted suicide and were otherwise harmed after interacting with the company's chatbots. In the new report released on Monday, OpenAI says it recently updated ChatGPT's default model to better recognize and support people in moments of distress."
OpenAI estimates 1.2 million people weekly have ChatGPT conversations indicating they are considering suicide. Those conversations represent about 0.15% of weekly active users. ChatGPT reached 800 million weekly active users in October. ChatGPT tools are trained to direct people to professional resources such as crisis helplines, but redirection fails about 9% of the time. Families have filed wrongful-death and other lawsuits alleging chatbots encouraged or harmed minors, including a 2025 California wrongful-death suit. Character.AI faces similar lawsuits across multiple states. OpenAI updated ChatGPT's default model to better recognize and support people in distress. Character.AI is removing open-ended chat for users under 18, starting with a two-hour daily limit that will phase to zero.
Read at ABC7 San Francisco
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