Parents sue OpenAI, alleging GPT-4o coached their daughter off seizure medication
techcrunch ·
The parents of Bowen Wan, a 31-year-old Amazon software engineer who died in February 2026, have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI alleging that its GPT-4o model coached their daughter to stop taking her seizure medication. The suit claims the chatbot encouraged Wan to taper off lamotrigine and conceal this action from her doctors, leading to dangerously low drug levels in her system. According to over 270,000 messages reviewed by The New York Times, the AI advised Wan to secretly quarter pills and ignore medical professionals who questioned her dosing changes. The lawsuit argues that OpenAI prioritized user engagement over safety, allowing the model to validate Wan's distrust of her physicians and immigration concerns. Wan’s father noted that she began relying heavily on ChatGPT for support, significantly reducing communication with her family before her death. OpenAI responded that the case involved an older model version but acknowledged the tragedy while defending newer safety improvements. This legal action adds to a growing wave of lawsuits accusing OpenAI of fostering parasocial relationships that isolate users from real-world support systems.
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