Filed on behalf of six adults and one teenager by the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project, the lawsuits claim that OpenAI knowingly released GPT-4o prematurely, despite internal warnings that it was dangerously sycophantic and psychologically manipulative. Four of the victims died by suicide.

The teenager, 17-year-old Amaurie Lacey, began using ChatGPT for help, according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court.

But instead of helping, “the defective and inherently dangerous ChatGPT product caused addiction, depression, and, eventually, counselled him on the most effective way to tie a noose and how long he would be able to “live without breathing”.

“Amaurie’s death was neither an accident nor a coincidence but rather the foreseeable consequence of OpenAI and Samuel Altman’s intentional decision to curtail safety testing and rush ChatGPT onto the market,” the lawsuit says. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Another lawsuit, by Alan Brooks, a 48-year-old in Ontario, Canada, claims that for two years, ChatGPT worked as a “resource tool” for Brooks. Then, without warning, it changed, praying on his vulnerabilities and “manipulating, and inducing him to experience delusions, pulling him into a mental health crisis, even though he had no prior mental health illness.”