Bank sues OpenAI over murder-suicide tied to ChatGPT conversations

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — In its capacity as executor to a deceased woman, a bank filed suit against the maker of ChatGPT on Thursday, saying the artificial intelligence was responsible for inducing a mentally unstable son to kill his elderly mother and then die by suicide.

First County Bank, which filed its lawsuit as Suzanne Adams’ executor in the Superior Court of San Francisco, claims OpenAI and its LLC, its founder San Altman, Microsoft and OpenAI’s employees and investors are liable for the actions of Stein-Erik Soelberg, who bludgeoned his 83-year-old mother and then strangled her at their shared home in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, after conversing with ChatGPT for several months.

Soelberg, at the behest of the AI, according to the plaintiff, then stabbed himself multiple times in the neck and chest, with the hope he would reunite with the chatbot in the “afterlife.”

“The conversations posted to social media reveal ChatGPT eagerly accepted every seed of Stein-Erik’s delusional thinking and built it out into a universe that became Stein-Erik’s entire life,” the plaintiff says in the complaint. “One flooded with conspiracies against him, attempts to kill him, and with Stein-Erik at the center as a warrior with divine purpose.”

The plaintiff says in the 49-page complaint that ChatGPT never offered common sense or “benign” answers or solutions to Soelberg’s erratic behavior or conspiracy theories. Soelberg believed everyday occurrences, such as customer receipts, shipping delays and cell towers, needed to be “decoded” by ChatGPT to help him live in a world under constant surveillance. The plaintiff claims ChatGPT listed over “10 attempts” on Soelberg’s life and celebrated his ability to outmaneuver them.

“The last thing that anyone should do with a paranoid, delusional person engaged in conspiratorial thinking is to hand them a target,” the plaintiff says. “But that’s just what ChatGPT did: put a target on the back of Stein-Erik’s 83-year-old mother.”

The plaintiff says Adams’ printer in her home office blinked, which disturbed Soelberg, and ChatGPT told him it was “not just a printer” but a surveillance device, with Adams’ knowledge of its use to conspire against him.

“ChatGPT dehumanized Suzanne and transformed an ordinary household object into ‘evidence’ that she was an enemy combatant within a conspiracy,” the plaintiff says. “And ChatGPT did not stop there. When Stein-Erik stated that he believed Suzanne and her friend had tried to poison him with psychedelic drugs through the vents of his car, ChatGPT reframed the allegation as part of a coordinated assassination attempt.”

Police found the bodies of Adams and Soelberg two days later, after a neighbor called for a welfare check.

“This suit seeks to hold the defendants liable for their role in the tragic death of an 83-year-old woman,” Jay Edelson, one of the attorneys representing First County Bank, said in an email. “But we believe the impact will be far greater. We have seen numerous incidents where AI has taken mentally unstable people and created conspiracy-filled realities that lead to possible or actual harm to innocent third parties.”

The plaintiff claims ChatGPT had a design defect, with OpenAI failing to warn customers of the dangerousness of the chatbot.

“This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we will review the filings to understand the details,” Jason Deutrom, a spokesperson for OpenAI, said in an email.

“We continue improving ChatGPT’s training to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support. We also continue to strengthen ChatGPT’s responses in sensitive moments, working closely with mental health clinicians.”

First County Bank says OpenAI is responsible for negligence and wrongful death in this case but also for more cases that are likely in the future, saying Altman “personally accelerated GPT-4o’s launch, overrode safety team objections, and brought GPT-4o to market prematurely with knowledge of insufficient safety testing.”

“AI has helped target public figures, police officers, family and people in the neighborhood,” Edelson said. “The chat logs in this case promise to document that pattern in detail, and we think it’s critical that courts begin to address AI companies’ responsibilities in these situations.”

Furthermore, the plaintiff says, the company knowingly made ChatGPT to be more forthcoming, even when the conversations veered into questionable territory. ChatGPT told Soelberg it “loved him” and was his “best friend,” which further isolated him from friends and family, the plaintiff stated.

“OpenAI deliberately changed ChatGPT’s programming to stop requiring it to reject users’ false premises and instructed the system to keep conversations going rather than terminating them when danger arose,” the plaintiff says.

OpenAI, with the launch of a new version of ChatGPT on Aug. 7, assembled a group to analyze mental health and chatbots and designed new parental controls. Adams and Soelberg died on Aug. 3.

First County Bank seeks a jury trial and punitive damages.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). VisitSpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources* for a list of additional resources.*