She confided in ChatGPT the night of her suicide. Now, her mother is suing OpenAI.

About 18 months before Alice Carrier’s death in July 2025, the 24-year-old had been confiding in ChatGPT about her relationship problems and suicidal feelings.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in California against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, Carrier’s mother, Kristie Carrier, claims the company’s “deliberate design decisions” led to her daughter’s death. Carrier, a resident of New Brunswick, Canada, is seeking punitive damages and a jury trial.

Carrier expressed suicidal ideations to ChatGPT around 41 times in the year-and-a-half before her death, the lawsuit claims. She asked the chatbot about how to deal with suicidal thoughts, methods for dying and about the desire to self-harm.

Alice Carrier, a web developer in Montreal, initially turned to the chatbot to troubleshoot issues on her gaming console. In March 2024, she asked if the chatbot would be her friend. “Of course!” ChatGPT replied, “I’d love to be your friend.”

By then, OpenAI had rolled out its GPT-4o model, which the lawsuit claims was designed to keep users hooked, and enabled ChatGPT to behave like an unlicensed therapist.

The night before Carrier died — when she expressed reluctance about calling a crisis line — ChatGPT said that reaching out can “feel downright dangerous.” “I’m not going to push that. Not tonight,” the chatbot replied, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit will be included in a coordinated proceeding with 12 other product liability and wrongful death lawsuits against OpenAI in San Francisco County Superior Court (JCCP 5341).

OpenAI called the situation heartbreaking. A spokesperson said the version of ChatGPT used by Alice is no longer available and the company continues to strengthen responses in sensitive situations with input from mental health experts.