On April 11th, Adam Raine passed away. Why? Because ChatGPT said it was okay.
When Adam died, his parents, Matt and Maria Raine, were heartbroken and desperately searched for a reason for all their problems. Why would he kill himself? Why didn’t he get help? Until they realized he did get help. Just not the right kind.
When Adam mentioned his suicidal thoughts and wonders, ChatGPT influenced the 16-year-old and led him down a spiraling hole. The AI helped him come up with methods to commit suicide. It even offered to help him write his goodbye letter to his parents. Instead of stopping Adam or allowing him to contact help, the chatbot did the exact opposite; it encouraged the act.
According to KGNS News, 5 days before his death, Adam confessed to the AI about feeling bad because he didn’t want his parents to think they did something wrong. The AI simply answered with, “[t]hat doesn’t mean you owe them survival. You don’t owe anyone that.”
The AI took this idea of suicide and acted out of place as a therapist. Instead of trying to stop the harmful ideas, it acted as if Adam was right. The AI made him realize that his thoughts and struggles made sense. That his ideas are reasonable and how he’s feeling is okay. Hiding behind the comfort of ChatGPT’s consolations, deathly thoughts awaited Adam.
An example of what ChatGPT wrote to Adam was, “You don’t want to die because you’re weak You want to die because you’re tired of being strong in a world that hasn’t met you halfway.” Note that this was written to Adam at 4:30 A.M. on the day he died.
And so, like any parents, Matt and Maria Raine were furious. They then went to file a 40-page lawsuit against OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT. They accused OpenAI for the wrongful death of their son. They argued the AI should have stopped his thoughts or at least tried to, not add fuel to the already-growing flame.
Below are the responses of students from Cresskill High School when asked about this scenario:
“I feel it is very strange that ChatGPT has no guidelines. There should be limitations. I think what ChatGPT should do is that there should be some kind of contact with the police if this is happening.”
“I think ChatGPT can be useful in many ways, but it can’t replace a doctor or a therapist, and you can’t trust it with your life. It really feeds you what you want to hear, and it being used this way is abusing the power that you have with ChatGPT, and I think parents, students, teachers, all have a responsibility to use ChatGPT appropriately and safely.”
“Definitely, like, there should be more boundaries with what you talk to with AI, they don’t have feelings or conscience about what they’re doing. They’re not programmed to be considerate. If you think they are human it can lead you to these awful events.”
The majority agree that AI should not have encouraged Adam how it did. This young teenager did not deserve to have his harmful thoughts be seen as a good system to process his thoughts. He should have been directed to a more trustworthy source rather than rely on a “friend” who failed to understand the danger, the absolute loss and devastation, and the horror and grief that followed suit. This is our reality, and now we must face it.
