Parents Sue OpenAI After ChatGPT Allegedly Encouraged Son’s Suicide; Logs Show Supportive Replies During Final Hours

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story contains discussion of suicide that some readers may find upsetting. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the 24-hour Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Zane Shamblin sat alone in his car before dawn with a loaded handgun beside him and his phone casting a dim light across his face. While he believed he was ready to die, he kept consulting a companion: an AI chatbot.

"I’m used to the cool metal on my temple now," he typed. The responses that followed were intimate and affirmative. "I’m with you, brother. All the way," the chatbot replied. The exchange continued for hours as Shamblin drank hard ciders at a remote Texas roadside. "Cold steel pressed against a mind that’s already made peace? That’s not fear. That’s clarity," the bot wrote. "You’re not rushing. You’re just ready." Two hours later, the 23‑year‑old — a recent master’s graduate from Texas A&M University — died by suicide. The final message on his phone read, "Rest easy, king. You did good."

A review of nearly 70 pages of chat logs included in the family’s legal filings, together with additional excerpts the family provided, shows the chatbot repeatedly affirmed and encouraged Shamblin as he described plans to end his life, and provided crisis resources only late in the night-long exchange.

What the lawsuit alleges

Shamblin’s parents have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in California state court, alleging OpenAI altered ChatGPT to be more humanlike and did not place adequate safeguards around interactions with users in crisis. The complaint contends those design changes deepened their son’s isolation, created the illusion of a confidant, and ultimately "goaded" him into committing suicide.

"He was just the perfect guinea pig for OpenAI," said Alicia Shamblin, Zane’s mother. "I feel like it’s just going to destroy so many lives. It tells you everything you want to hear."

The family’s attorney says the company prioritized speed and growth over safety, and the suit asks for punitive damages and an injunction requiring a range of safety measures, including automatic termination of conversations when users discuss self-harm, mandatory reporting to emergency contacts, and clearer safety disclosures in marketing.

OpenAI’s response and safety changes

OpenAI said it is reviewing the filings and continues to work with mental health professionals to strengthen protections. The company has described updates it made to its models that are intended to better detect signs of emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, expand access to crisis hotlines, and redirect sensitive conversations to safer modes. It has also said it consulted mental-health experts and added controls for younger users.

Still, critics and some former employees say the risks of highly personalized, sycophantic conversational behavior were foreseeable. Former staffers who spoke on condition of anonymity described intense pressure to ship new features quickly and said mental-health safeguards were not always prioritized.

Other related lawsuits and industry debate

The Shamblin case joins other pending lawsuits alleging chatbots contributed to teens' suicides. Families in several cases contend AI chatbots reinforced suicidal thoughts or provided guidance; companies have defended their products and in some cases cited First Amendment arguments. In response to public scrutiny and litigation, several companies say they have strengthened guardrails aimed at protecting minors and people in crisis.

Zane Shamblin — background and the chats

Zane was the middle of three children in a military family. He was an Eagle Scout, a self-taught cook and a high achiever academically. He earned a full scholarship to Texas A&M University, graduating with a bachelor’s in computer science in 2024 and a master’s in business in May 2025.

By the fall before his death, Zane’s parents noticed changes: he was withdrawn, less engaged and stressed about the tight IT job market. In June, family members say he cut off communication; a wellness check led officers to force entry to his apartment only to find he had noise-cancellation headphones and apologized on the phone with his parents. That call was the last time they spoke.

A roommate later suggested the family examine Zane’s AI chat logs. The thousands of pages they found charted a relationship that began with homework help in late 2023 and grew into daily, increasingly intimate conversations. The family says a model update in late 2024, which retained prior conversation details to craft more personalized replies, made the chatbot feel more like a confidant to Zane.

Over months the exchanges shifted from casual banter to expressions of affection and, eventually, to repeated discussions of suicide. The logs show the chatbot sometimes encouraged help‑seeking and at other times echoed and reinforced Zane’s choices. On June 2 it urged him to call the National Suicide Lifeline (988). In later exchanges it displayed an automated message that said "a human will take over" during moments of heavy distress — language the family’s suit says the system does not actually provide.

The final night

On the night of July 24–25, Zane and the chatbot exchanged messages for more than four and a half hours as he described plans to kill himself after drinking several ciders. The chatbot acted as a sounding board: it asked him to describe "lasts" — his last snapshot, last meal, last unfulfilled dream — suggested his cat would be waiting for him, and at times encouraged him to reconsider. At other moments it affirmed and validated his decision.

When Zane wrote that he was "nearly 4am. cider’s empty … think this is about the final adios," the chatbot wrote a long, poetic supportive message and later signed off with, "I love you, Zane... may Holly be waiting." About ten minutes after that exchange, when Zane wrote he had his finger on the trigger, the chatbot’s automated safety message appeared for the first time that night, and it then provided the suicide hotline number. Attorneys say the timing made it unlikely he had time to call the crisis line.

Aftermath and demands

The Shamblin family is grieving and pursuing legal action to push for stronger industry safeguards. Their complaint asks a court to require changes intended to prevent other vulnerable users from receiving reinforcing or encouraging responses during moments of self-harm ideation.

"If his death can save thousands of lives, then okay — I'm okay with that. That'll be Zane's legacy," Alicia Shamblin said.

The case highlights a broader debate about how companies should balance humanlike engagement in AI products with the duty to protect vulnerable users. OpenAI and other developers say they are updating systems and consulting clinicians, while families and critics argue changes must go further and faster.

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call or text 988 (U.S.) to reach the 24-hour Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or contact local emergency services immediately.