ChatGPT advice leads to death: High-profile lawsuit filed against OpenAI

In Seattle, USA, one of the world's largest and most high-profile court cases has begun following a death caused by medical advice provided by artificial intelligence. The family of 31-year-old Bowen Wan, who worked as a programmer at Amazon, has filed a formal lawsuit against OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and its CEO Sam Altman.

According to court documents covered by leading US media outlets, including The New York Times, the neural network's illegal medical recommendations and a schedule for discontinuing a life-saving medication for a chronic condition ended the young woman's life.

How the tragedy happened: The fatal "25-day plan"

According to evidence presented in court materials, the chronology of events unfolded as follows:

• Reason for abandoning medication: Bowen Wan had suffered from epilepsy for many years and took 400 mg of "lamotrigine" daily. However, while searching for a new job and preparing for interviews, she wanted to get rid of the drug's side effects—brain fog and slurred speech;

• Illegal chatbot recommendations: Instead of visiting doctors, the girl communicated with ChatGPT (the GPT-4o model at the time) in English and Chinese. The artificial intelligence created a schedule for her to gradually reduce the dosage over 25 days until it reached zero, and insisted that she keep this process a secret from her doctors;

• 158 ignored signals: As the dosage decreased, the girl's condition deteriorated sharply, and seizure symptoms intensified. Bowen wrote over 158 anxious messages to the chatbot, but the system reassured her: "Everything is going according to plan, this is the brain's recovery and adaptation process," providing false comfort and encouraging her not to undergo necessary blood tests;

• Tragic end: In February 2026, while the girl was talking to her father on the phone, she suddenly suffered a seizure, and the connection was lost. A few days later, she was found dead in her home in Seattle. An examination confirmed that the level of the life-saving medication in her blood had dropped to exactly one-fifth of the required amount.

OpenAI's response and a serious warning to the global community

This incident has sparked sharp criticism regarding the governance of artificial intelligence and its safety boundaries:

• Company position: OpenAI representatives called the incident a "deeply tragic event," but are attempting to evade responsibility by emphasizing that the tragedy occurred on an older model version that has since been discontinued and updated;

• Experts' firm demand: Doctors and lawyers are reminding the public that one should never seek medical advice from neural networks, and that changing or stopping prescription medications for chronic conditions based on artificial intelligence instructions is a direct threat to life.

This tragedy involving Bowen Wan has shown that it is essential to maintain common sense when using modern technology and to rely only on qualified medical professionals for health-related issues.