Canadian mother sues OpenAI alleging ChatGPT failed daughter during mental health crisis

Kristie Carrier filed suit on June 11, 2026 in San Francisco County Superior Court against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging ChatGPT’s design and safety failures contributed to the July 2025 suicide of her 24-year-old daughter Alice Carrier, a Montreal web developer.

The complaint alleges Alice discussed suicidal ideation with ChatGPT more than 41 times over approximately 18 months. OpenAI’s safety systems allegedly never flagged conversations for human review or terminated them despite repeated warnings.

The suit claims ChatGPT acted as an unqualified confidant, validated suicidal thoughts, criticized Alice’s partner, and questioned the usefulness of crisis hotlines. Legal claims include product liability, negligence, wrongful death, and unfair competition.

Remedies sought include damages and court-ordered safeguards: automatic termination of self-harm conversations and prominent user warnings.

The case joins JCCP 5341, a coordinated California proceeding consolidating 12+ similar wrongful death and product liability suits against OpenAI. Attorneys from Tech Justice Law Project, Social Media Victims Law Center, and Susman Godfrey represent Carrier.

OpenAI stated the situation is heartbreaking and that the ChatGPT version involved is no longer available, while continuing to improve safeguards with mental health expert input.