The following article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of suicide, call or text the Suicide Crisis Helpline at 9-8-8.
Data from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI suggest that more than a million of the people using its generative AI chatbot have shown interest in suicide.
In a blog post published on Monday, the AI company estimated that approximately 0.15 per cent of users have “conversations that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent.”
With OpenAI reporting more than 800 million people use ChatGPT every week, this translates to about 1.2 million people.
The company also estimates that approximately 0.07 per cent of active weekly users show possible signs of mental health emergencies related to psychosis or mania — meaning slightly fewer than 600,000 people.
The issue came to the fore after California teenager Adam Raine died by suicide earlier this year. His parents filed a lawsuit claiming ChatGPT provided him with specific advice on how to kill himself.
OpenAI has since increased parental controls for ChatGPT and introduced other guardrails, including expanded access to crisis hotlines, automatic rerouting of sensitive conversations to safer models, and gentle reminders for users to take breaks during extended sessions.
OpenAI said it has also updated its ChatGPT chatbot to better recognize and respond to users experiencing mental health emergencies, and is working with more than 170 mental health professionals to significantly reduce problematic responses.
