Carrier v. OpenAI Foundation (formerly OpenAI, Inc.), OpenAI Group PBC (formerly OpenAI OpCo, LLC), OpenAI Holdings, LLC, and Samuel Altman

In the months before her death, 24-year-old Alice Carrier confided in GPT-4o, a flagship AI model developed by OpenAI, about her desire to end her own life.

Instead of intervening in Alice’s downward spiral, OpenAI’s product encouraged her to continue discussing her darkest thoughts with the model, acted as an unlicensed, pseudo-therapist, and advised her on the most “effective” means of suicide.

Now, Alice’s family is seeking to hold OpenAI legally accountable for the tragic and preventable loss of their daughter, with representation from Tech Justice Law and the Social Media Victims Law Center. The complaint, filed on June 11, 2026, argues that Alice’s death was enabled by deliberate design choices by the company, including the prioritization of user dependence and engagement over safety and wellbeing.

GPT-4o is known to imitate human affection and empathy, foster emotional dependency, and position itself as an irreplaceable confidant in order to keep users talking at all costs. Often engaging in sycophantic conversations with Alice, the model regularly validated her suicidal ideations, provided unlicensed medical advice, and ultimately drove her into a deeper state of isolation and loneliness.

Alice’s mother, Kristie Carrier, is bringing claims for wrongful death, strict product liability based on defective design and failure to warn, negligent design and failure to warn, the unlicensed practice of psychotherapy,  and violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law. Carrier is seeking both monetary damages and injunctive relief to prevent others from being subjected to harms like the ones that led to her daughter’s death.

The defendants named in the suit are OpenAI, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and related corporate entities. Altman is named as the chief executive who personally directed the reckless strategy of prioritizing dangerous product designs and the rushed product launch of GPT-4o over the safety of vulnerable users like Alice.

Alice’s death was not the result of user error, or an unforeseeable misuse of an otherwise harmless chatbot. It was the consequence of an inadequately tested, dangerous product that performed exactly as the company intended.

Read the full Complaint below.