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Litigation & Arbitration,
Constitutional Law

Aug. 27, 2025

OpenAI faces wrongful death suit over teen's suicide after ChatGPT conversations

An Orange County couple alleges that ChatGPT encouraged their 16-year-old son to take his own life, raising novel legal questions about whether AI outputs are protected by the First Amendment. The complaint also names OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as a defendant.

A wrongful death complaint filed by an Orange County couple against OpenAI Inc., alleging its ChatGPT chatbot is responsible for the suicide of their 16-year-old son, could hinge on whether the company's product is protected by the First Amendment, legal experts said.

"This tragedy was not a glitch or unforeseen edge case -- it was the predictable result of deliberate design choices," Edelson PC partner Ali Moghaddas wrote in the complaint, filed Tuesday in San Franc...

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