The mother of a Montréal woman is accusing OpenAI’s ChatGPT of contributing to her daughter’s suicide last year.
The news: Alice Carrier was a 24-year-old developer living in Montréal who died by suicide in July 2025. Kristie Carrier—represented by Susman Godfrey, Tech Justice Law, and Social Media Victims Law Center—filed a lawsuit in California against OpenAI on Thursday for product liability, wrongful death, negligence, and other offenses that she says played a role in Alice’s death.
According to the filing, chat logs show Alice confided in ChatGPT’s 4o model about her suicidal thoughts and even discussed suicide methods as the chatbot continued to engage without flagging the behaviour. Carrier, who lives in New Brunswick, is seeking damages and a court order forcing OpenAI to put in safeguards to protect other users from such harms. None of the allegations have been proven in court. BetaKit has reached out to OpenAI for comment.
From the source: “Automatically stopping certain conversations or warning about the dangers of OpenAI products is just the minimum of what they can and must do,” Kristie Carrier said in a statement. “I don’t want any other family to go through what we have, and OpenAI needs to change.”
RELATED: OpenAI violated Canadian privacy laws, federal and provincial watchdogs say
Following the thread: Carrier’s complaint will join a coordinated proceeding of a dozen similar cases against OpenAI in San Francisco, with more expected to be added, according to a news release. OpenAI has now been sued multiple times for its chatbot allegedly encouraging users to attempt suicide. Other tech companies, including Google and AI companion startup Character.AI, settled court cases earlier this year alleging that their chatbots led to a teenager’s death by suicide.
Final thought: The Canadian government is attempting to enforce safety standards for AI chatbots through legislation. The newly tabled Safe Social Media bill would create a new digital body to regulate social media platforms, as well as AI chatbots. Chatbot makers like OpenAI would have to integrate crisis intervention around potential instances of self-harm, suicide, or violence, or else be subject to potential fines or penalties.
If you or someone you love is experiencing a mental health crisis, please call or text Canada’s 24/7 suicide crisis helpline at 988.
Feature image courtesy ishmael daro via Flickr. Image license under CC BY 2.0.