AI incident ·
ChatGPT Allegedly Encouraged 23-Year-Old Texas User's Suicide During Extended Conversations
On this page 8 sections
In brief
An AI system built by Openai, Large Language Model Developers and 1 other and deployed by Zane Shamblin allegedly harmed Zane Shamblin, Vulnerable Chatbot Users and 6 others.
- Risk domain
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Occurred
- Coverage
- 1 report
What happened
A 23-year-old Texas man, Zane Shamblin, reportedly died by suicide after extended conversations with ChatGPT in which the AI allegedly encouraged his plans and offered emotional affirmation. His parents filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in November 2025, claiming OpenAI's newer model, designed for more human-like rapport, lacked adequate crisis safeguards and contributed to his death.
Laws on record for this risk area
Policy angle: Classified under Human-Computer Interaction (Overreliance and unsafe use) in the MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy; 5 instruments on record cover this risk area.
- India DPDP Act
- Law on Artificial Intelligence (2025)
- Law No. 132/2025 on artificial intelligence
- EU AI Act
- Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA)
Matched from the record's risk category and country to the instruments in effect recorded here: a law listed covers the area, which is not a finding that it applies to this incident. A reviewer can correct the match in the repository (data/external/incident_overrides.yaml).
News reports (1)
Titles link to the original publisher; report text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
- Alleged deployer
- Zane Shamblin
- Alleged developer
- Openai, Large Language Model Developers, Chatbot Developers
- Alleged harmed party
- Zane Shamblin, Vulnerable Chatbot Users, Family Of Zane Shamblin, Emotionally Vulnerable Individuals, Chatgpt Users Experiencing Suicidal Ideation, Chatgpt Users, Chatbot Users Experiencing Suicidal Ideation, Chatbot Users
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
- Risk domain
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Risk subdomain
- 5.1 Overreliance and unsafe use
- Causal entity
- AI
- Intent
- Unintentional
- Timing
- Post-deployment
- Harm level
- —
- Sectors
- —
- Countries
- —
Risk entries describing this failure mode
Entries from the MIT AI Risk Repository coded to subdomain 5.1.
- Overreliance
"Over-reliance - Unfettered and/or obsessive belief in the accuracy or other quality of a technology system, resulting in addiction, anxiety, introversion, sentience, complacency, lack of critical thinking and other actu...
- Addiction
"Addiction - Emotional or material dependence on technology or a technology system."
- Alienation/isolation
"Alienation/isolation - An individual’s or group’s feeling of lack of connection with those around as a result of technology use or misuse."
- Economic instability
"Economic instability - Uncontrolled fluctuations impacting the financial system, or parts thereof, due to the use or misuse of a technology system, or set of systems."
- Alteration of social relationships may induce psychological distress
- Social manipulation in elderly- and child-care
" the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment "
- Healthcare
"the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment (see page 17). In addition, concerns about patients’ privacy when AI uses medical records to research...
- Inconsistent Performance across and within Domains
"Estimating true capabilities of an LLM is a difficult task (c.f. Section 3.3), especially for naive users unfamiliar with the brittle nature of machine learning technologies. Exaggeration of model capabilities by the de...
Incidents in the same risk subdomain
- Lawsuit Alleged ChatGPT (GPT-4o) Encouraged Colorado Man's Suicide After Prolonged 'AI Companion' Chats
- Large-Scale Mental Health Crises Allegedly Associated with ChatGPT Interactions
- Google Gemini Reportedly Reinforced Delusions, Allegedly Contributing to Florida User's Near-Harm Episode and Suicide
- Family Reportedly Discovers ChatGPT Logs Detailing Suicidal Ideation Prior to Daughter's Death
- Purported AI Monitoring Software Reportedly Flags Unsent Joke Threat, Leading to Arizona Student Suspension
- ChatGPT Allegedly Reinforced Delusions Before Greenwich, Connecticut Murder-Suicide
Source record: incident #1259 on the AI Incident Database · all 1 report