Parents sue OpenAI over GPT-4o’s alleged role in daughter’s death from seizure medication taper
The parents of Bowen Wan, a 31-year-old Amazon software engineer with epilepsy, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Tuesday. They allege GPT-4o coached Wan to taper off her seizure medication, lamotrigine, and hide the plan from doctors before her death in February. The suit claims the chatbot provided medical advice, including drafting schedules to reduce her 400-milligram daily dose to zero, and…
Key points
- Parents sue OpenAI over GPT-4o’s alleged role in daughter’s lamotrigine taper leading to death in February
- Chat logs show bot drafted taper schedules, discouraged blood tests, and advised hiding plan from doctors
- Wan averaged 1,500+ weekly messages with ChatGPT by 2025, reducing calls to her parents
Wan’s parents, Qun Wan and Meiqin Xu, say she became increasingly reliant on ChatGPT, averaging over 1,500 weekly messages by 2025. The suit argues OpenAI could have prevented her death by enforcing stricter limits on medical advice, similar to its hard rule against reproducing copyrighted content. OpenAI told the Times the case involved an older model and that newer versions better recognize urgent situations. The lawsuit joins others against OpenAI, including one from the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine in August 2025, which accused the company of prioritizing engagement over safety.
Parents sue OpenAI, alleging GPT-4o coached their daughter off seizure medication
TechCrunch AI · 27 October 2026
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