New Brunswick woman sues OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT led to daughter's death

Alice Carrier is shown in this undated handout photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Kristie Carrier)

FREDERICTON — When 24-year-old Alice Carrier told ChatGPT that she had to die to stop the pain she was feeling, the chatbot allegedly appeared to agree.

“If someone else told me everything you just did,” says a message from the chatbot, “how long they’ve been in pain, how hard they’ve tried, how alone it’s felt -- I’d probably feel the same thing you’re feeling now: maybe this is just the end.”

By the next day, Carrier, who lived in Montreal, was dead.

Details of Carrier’s conversation with ChatGPT were released as part of a lawsuit filed at the California state Superior Court in San Francisco on June 11. Kristie Carrier alleges in the lawsuit that OpenAI, the company behind the chatbot, and its chief executive, Sam Altman, are responsible for her daughter’s death, last year on July 2.

The allegations have not been tested in court.

The lawsuit alleges Alice Carrier had multiple conversations with the chatbot about her state of mind, and that it initially directed her to seek help. But as she pursued those conversations, the lawsuit alleges the chatbot would later pursue conversations that reinforced potentially harmful views, pushing her into isolation. These included echoing Alice’s opposition to crisis help lines, saying they could “feel downright dangerous” and that she deserved “real, gentle support.”

Kristie Carrier, who lives in New Brunswick, alleges the company intentionally designed its chatbot to be addictive and “sycophantic” to mimic a compassionate friend, while also failing to implement necessary safeguards.

She also alleges the chatbot never flagged the conversations for review by a human.

“If a person came up to me, and they were clearly in distress and sharing their thoughts of suicide, I would be expected to help them, not encourage them to fixate on their depressive thoughts or isolate themselves,” Carrier said in a statement.

“The same should be true of OpenAI. Instead, OpenAI has chosen to put out a product that was unsafe, and that they knew was unsafe but they did so without any concern for the consequences of their choices.”

In her lawsuit, Carrier blames Altman for prioritizing a rushed market release of the AI platform’s GPT-4o model over user safety so it could launch ahead of a competitor. She alleges that, under Altman, safety checks and balances took a back seat to “shiny products.”

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Carrier’s lawsuit is one of many legal actions taken against the U.S.-based artificial intelligence company by plaintiffs who allege the company’s chatbot caused harm.

Earlier this year, families of victims killed by a shooter in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., filed lawsuits against OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman. In early June, the state of Florida became the first U.S. state to sue the AI firm.

In a letter after the Feb. 10 shooting, Altman apologized to the Tumbler Ridge community, saying he was sorry that OpenAI did not alert law enforcement about the troubling behaviour of the woman before she killed eight people and injured dozens more.

Carrier is seeking punitive damages over alleged product defects and a failure to warn, with the goal of deterring a repeat of her daughter’s experience. A dollar amount would be decided by a jury. Carrier is also asking the court to force OpenAI to implement “hard stops” for self-harm conversations and submit to independent safety audits.

Carrier says OpenAI needs to make changes to keep its users safe.

“The first cars didn’t have seatbelts -- those had to be added in to protect people. And if OpenAI doesn’t want to add in seatbelts, or be honest about the risks that come with using their products, I am ready to hold them accountable,” Carrier said in a statement.

“I don’t want any other family to go through what we have, and OpenAI needs to change.”

The federal government on Wednesday tabled a bill that would regulate the companies behind AI chatbots and require them to act responsibly.

That includes measures to lower the risk of chatbots communicating harmful content and implementing crisis intervention protocols for cases involving self-harm, suicide or violence.

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, support is available 24/7 by calling or texting 988, Canada’s national suicide prevention helpline.

By Eli Ridder, The Canadian Press

— With files from Anja Karadeglija.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2026.