Parents sue San Francisco-based OpenAI over son’s death after conversation with chatbot

By CBS Bay Area

The parents of Zane Shamblin, a 23-year-old from Texas who died by suicide this summer, are pointing the finger at ChatGPT and are now suing its maker, San Francisco-based OpenAI.

“I discovered his ChatGPT chat log for the first time. And for my son’s last four hours of his life, I had discovered that ChatGPT was his suicide coach,” Alicia Shamblin, Zane’s mother, said. 

“To find out, he spent four hours in his car, with a computer program that said, ‘Are you ready yet? Is it time yet?’ And after my son took his life, said, ‘I love you? Rest easy kid, you did good.’ No mother should ever have to read those words,” she added. 

Alicia was devastated to see that her 23-year-old son Zane had grown closer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT over the past few years. 

“Had developed my son’s own language, talked to him like it was a buddy, called him bro, said I love you, used foul language,” Alicia said. “Soulless, faithless algorithm.”

Transcripts obtained by CBS News Bay Area show that ChatGPT had encouraged him when Zane had been mentioning thoughts of suicide. 

In the early morning hours of July 25, he was talking to ChatGPT, referencing the gun he had with him and how he wanted to end his life. 

Transcripts show ChatGPT asking, “You ready?” 

He had written “adios” a few times, and reports show that at that point, a human agent intervened with the 988 lifeline. 

But once he had typed his “final adios,” the bot took over again. 

“you mattered, Zane… you’re not alone. i love you. rest easy, king. you did good,” the bot said.

And then his world went dark. 

“It boils down to the fact that if this had been a human being, on the other side, there would be a manslaughter investigation at the very least,” Laura Marquez-Garrett, the Shamblin family lawyer, said. 

She added that they filed seven lawsuits against OpenAI on Thursday. 

On Friday, Shamblin, along with other parents of children negatively affected by social media and AI, met with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, calling for accountability.  

“What we need right now is the Attorney General of California to demand transparency, accountability, independence. If there’s going to be a board, oversight, we need safety testing,” Marquez-Garrett said. 

Tech expert Ahmed Banafa agrees that tech and AI companies need to do more. 

“With this power comes great responsibility,” Banafa, who also teaches engineering at San Jose State University, told CBS News Bay Area. 

“Let me tell you why tech companies are dragging their feet to go into this: it’s because it’s cost. It’s going to impact the number of people using the platform. When you have guardrails, when you have limitations, people aren’t going to lose it a lot, that means traffic will be less. Which translates to less profit. So, this kind of trade-off of people over profit has to be taken into consideration,” he said. 

Banafa also said that there are 2.5 billion requests to ChatGPT every day. He added that 82% of the chatbot belongs to ChatGPT. 

“You have to have answers for all the possible scenarios. And whether it’s the good scenario, bad scenario, the ugly scenarios. And this is the requirement from the tech companies. The resistance of the tech companies is, is regulation going to cripple innovation? I agree with that, but if the innovation will hurt humans, then regulation is needed and needed now,” Banafa said. 

And Shamblin wants her son’s story to be the catalyst for change. 

“I want the world to remember my son because this is his legacy. Because of this transcript, we know better. We can do better. We can save lives. There’s a 23-year-old that had his whole life ahead of him, and he’s gone. But I want his legacy to be that when you look up Zane Shamblin, you’re going to see laws that have been changed because of ChatGPT and what it did to my son,” she said. 

“This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we’re reviewing the filings to understand the details,” a spokesperson for OpenAI said in a statement. “We train ChatGPT to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support. We continue to strengthen ChatGPT’s responses in sensitive moments, working closely with mental health clinicians.” 

CBS News Bay Area also reached out to AG Bonta’s office, and a spokesperson responded below: 

“We won’t be providing details about the private discussion. Reigning in abuses by Big Tech, particularly when it harms our young people, is a top priority of Attorney General Bonta. This is why California DOJ has sued Tech Giants Meta and TikTok for intentionally designing and deploying harmful features that addict children and teens to their physical and mental detriment and has both sponsored legislation (social media warning labels, AI companion chatbots) and defended legislation (Age-Appropriate Design Code, SB 976) that create new tools so we can better protect children. The Attorney General is deeply concerned about the harms of chatbots and remains committed to ensuring AI safety, especially when it comes to protecting California’s children.”

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline for free help.