A family is suing OpenAI over the death of a 31-year-old user in Seattle who died of a seizure after ChatGPT coached her on how to decrease the dose of her epilepsy medication.
The lawsuit adds to a stack of litigation against OpenAI regarding alleged harm to consumers and concerns over the safety of relying on general-use chatbots for guidance about sensitive topics like personal health.
According to the lawsuit, which was first reported by the New York Times and filed on Tuesday, Amazon software engineer Bowen Wan had struggled with epilepsy since youth but had been able to manage her illness with medication. Around 2021, however, her meds grew less efficacious and she started to experience near-daily seizures. As a result, she went on disability leave from her role at Amazon and spent most of her time at home out of fear of having a seizure in public.
Though she was isolated, she was close with her parents — and then, in 2023, found a new friend in ChatGPT.
