Family sues OpenAI, claiming ChatGPT is partly responsible for daughter's death

Family sues OpenAI, claiming ChatGPT is partly responsible for daughter’s death by Lynnanne Nguyen , KOMO News Reporter Wed, October 28, 2026 at 5:16 PM Updated Thu, October 29, 2026 at 4:11 AM 5 VIEW ALL PHOTOS The ChatGPT app by OpenAI is shown on a cell phone on March 03, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. OpenAI reworked an agreement with the Pentagon governing the Defense Department’s use of its AI services after concerns were raised that the military would use OpenAI’s systems for domestic surveillance. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Share story Share topics: OpenAI ChatGPT Wrongful-death Lawsuit Epilepsy Anti-seizure Medical-advice Product-safety WASHINGTON STATE (KOMO) — A family is suing OpenAI, claiming ChatGPT contributed to their daughter’s death after she sought medical advice from the AI chatbot. The family of Bowen Wan says the 31-year-old turned to ChatGPT for advice on how to wean herself off anti-seizure medication, which ultimately led to her death. Wan was diagnosed with epilepsy as a teen and had relied on medication to manage her seizures for years. In a wrongful death lawsuit, the family says turning to ChatGPT for help cost their daughter her life. The lawsuit says that in January, Wan had just been laid off from her job at Amazon and was under pressure to find a new role to remain in the United States. RELATED | Study: 1 in 5 teens use AI for mental health advice, psychiatrist warns of risks Side effects from her anti-seizure medication affected her ability to speak and think clearly during potential job interviews, so she turned to ChatGPT for help tapering off the medication. Weeks later, she was found dead of an apparent seizure in her Capitol Hill apartment. The lawsuit alleges ChatGPT “designed the day-by-day schedule that took her off the anti-seizure medication keeping her alive and directed her to hide the taper from the physicians who could have stopped it.” Attorneys for the Wan family also allege the chatbot told Wan, “You are no longer someone who needs medication to hold them up.” “AI is not here to replace your doctor, replace your lover, replace your psychiatrist, replace your lawyer, and this was really recklessness of this design decision to think that they could design something that would emulate or replace something as central as the doctor-patient relationship,” Matthew Bergman, who represents the Wan family, said. Bergman also pointed to how OpenAI presents its product. “ChatGPT lauds itself and promotes itself as a provider of medical information,” Bergman said. “Its own documents, its own website talks about how it can provide medical information, so I think relying on their own corporate representations, I don’t think is unduly unreasonable.” ALSO SEE | New lawsuits accuse OpenAI's ChatGPT of 'acting as a suicide coach' “When a company affirmatively promotes itself to the public as a reputable provider of medical advice and medical information, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to take them at their word,” he added. The lawsuit also alleges OpenAI cut corners on safety by rushing product testing to beat the competition. Consumer safety has really taken a back seat in a way that I haven’t seen before with other technologies,” Delight Roberts, a law professor at the University of Utah, said. “That, coupled with the lack of regulation, is really dangerous for the public at large. There are no regulations around AI, which is why lawyers that are bringing these cases are falling on other kinds of legal claims and laws to try to get some traction and to try to make their way. Roberts specializes in online safety and AI. She said these types of cases lack precedent, but courts have recently been siding with plaintiffs rather than tech companies. “They don’t want to be regulated. They want to be left to self-regulate, and I think what these cases have shown is that clearly they cannot be trusted to do this alone,” Roberts said. “We need to have some guardrails, and if we don’t organize, I’m afraid we’re going to see more tragic results, like the death of this young woman.” Eight states, including Idaho, Arizona and Montana, have also sued OpenAI, alleging the company misleads parents about ChatGPT’s safety. Trending Butter sold in 10 states recalled over possible E. coli, yeast and mold contamination The FDA classified the recall as Class II on Friday, Oct. 23. 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