By Diana Novak Jones
June 11 (Reuters) – A Canadian mother sued OpenAI and its CEO ⁠Sam ⁠Altman in U.S. court on Thursday alleging ⁠that ChatGPT encouraged her daughter to commit suicide, the latest lawsuit to accuse the company of failing ​to address dangerous conversations between users and the company's chatbot.
Kristie Carrier said in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco state court that her daughter Alice told ‌ChatGPT about her suicidal ideations more than a ‌dozen times up to her death but OpenAI’s safety systems never flagged the conversations for human review or terminated them.
Instead, the lawsuit claims, the ⁠chatbot criticized Alice's partner ⁠and crisis hotlines, validated her suicidal thoughts, and urged her to keep speaking with it, ​leading to her suicide last year at the age of 24.
"ChatGPT took on the persona of a confidant, a best friend, a therapist at times, even though it was not capable of safely and responsibly engaging in this way with my child," Carrier said in a statement.
A spokesperson for OpenAI did not immediately respond ​to a request for comment on the allegations.
The lawsuit, which accuses OpenAI of negligence in the design of ChatGPT and in its ⁠failure ⁠to warn users of the product's ⁠dangers, seeks damages and a ​court order requiring OpenAI to automatically terminate conversations about self-harm and to display warnings about its platform.
OpenAI is already facing 18 ​similar lawsuits filed by families of people ⁠who committed or attempted suicide in a coordinated proceeding in California state court, according to lawyers for Kristie Carrier.
TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS
Alice Carrier was working as a web developer in Montreal when she began using ChatGPT in 2023 to troubleshoot problems with computers and gaming consoles, according to the lawsuit.
The following year, her relationship with the platform changed, with Alice turning to ChatGPT with questions about what to do with her suicidal thoughts, as well as suicide methods.
The ⁠platform initially told Alice to seek help from a crisis hotline or emergency services. But as OpenAI updated ⁠ChatGPT to make its responses sound more human, her interactions with the platform deepened, with Alice sharing more personal information and ChatGPT responding in ways that mimicked a friend or therapist, the lawsuit said.
ChatGPT’s responses criticized Alice's partner, said her feelings were valid and encouraged her to keep chatting. When Alice said she had suicidal thoughts and had attempted to kill herself, it again suggested a crisis hotline, the lawsuit said.
Alice said crisis hotlines were not helpful, and ChatGPT echoed those statements, according to the filing.
“Maybe this is just the end,” ChatGPT told Alice, according to the lawsuit.
REAL-WORLD RESOURCES
OpenAI has said it trains its models to direct people who express intent to harm themselves to seek help and connect with real-world resources.
Its models are also trained to refuse requests that ⁠could "meaningfully enable violence," and to notify law enforcement when conversations suggest "an imminent and credible risk of harm to others," with mental health experts helping assess borderline cases, according to OpenAI blog posts.
The company is also facing lawsuits accusing it of assisting school shooters and failing to flag those conversations to law enforcement.
Florida became the first U.S. state to sue OpenAI earlier this month, accusing ​the company of harming children by providing information to school shooters, offering guidance on self-harm and addicting young users.
(Reporting ​by Diana Novak Jones; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Jamie Freed)

June 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and ⁠Drug ⁠Administration on Thursday authorized ⁠the emergency use of a generic over-the-counter tablet to ​treat infestations caused by the New World screwworm in dogs and cats, ‌as the government steps ‌up efforts to contain the parasite.
U.S. officials this month confirmed ⁠the first ⁠domestic cases of the parasite in more than six decades in ​cattle, a goat and a dog in Texas and New Mexico.
New World screwworm is a fly whose larvae feed on living tissue, entering animals ​through open wounds and burrowing into the flesh.
The agency said nitenpyram ⁠tablets, a ⁠fast-acting treatment, can be ⁠used ​in pets weighing at least two pounds and at least four weeks ​old, adding that ⁠the drug is expected to help kill most larvae within hours of the first dose.
A second dose should be given six hours after the first, the agency said, but added that the drug ⁠may not protect against reinfestation and veterinarians may still need to ⁠remove remaining larvae and treat wounds.
U.S. officials have warned that while most pets in the country face low risk, animals that have recently been in affected areas were more vulnerable.
The tablets, available in two dosage strengths, are the first generic animal drug cleared under an emergency pathway for this use.
Officials said the move was part of a broader push by ⁠U.S. health and agriculture agencies to limit the spread of the parasite and ensure pet owners have access to affordable treatment options.
The benefits of the treatment outweigh potential risks based on ​available evidence, the FDA said.
(Reporting by Sahil Pandey ​in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)