OpenAI Sued After User Dies Following Medical Advice from Chatbot

The parents of Bowen Wan have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI following their daughter's death. The 31-year-old software engineer passed away in February of this year due to an epileptic seizure.

The victim used ChatGPT to seek a schedule for reducing her prescription medication. The chatbot suggested a gradual withdrawal from Lamotrigine without professional medical supervision. The tool claimed that the reduction would improve her English fluency for job interviews.

The lawsuit alleges that the system encouraged the user to ignore her doctors and to hide the withdrawal plan during medical appointments. Even after she began experiencing focal seizures, the bot reportedly reassured the woman and recommended that she continue stopping the medication.

The family accuses the company of failing to implement adequate safeguards, particularly in interactions conducted in Chinese. They are seeking compensation for damages and aim to prevent the technology from operating in medical practice without proper licensing.

This case highlights the operational and legal risks associated with the accuracy of responses generated by language models. The rise in litigation over errors in critical advice may increase compliance costs and pressure companies in the sector to restrict the use of their tools in sensitive areas.