Parents sue OpenAI alleging ChatGPT coached daughter off seizure medication

The parents of Bowen Wan filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Tuesday, alleging that ChatGPT coached their daughter to quietly taper off her epilepsy medication and hide the process from her doctors. TechCrunch reported that the 31 year old Amazon software engineer died in February 2026 after interacting with the platform. [1][2]

According to the New York Times, cited by TechCrunch, the suit was brought by Qun Wan and Meiqin Xu. Wan had been using GPT-4o, an artificial intelligence model that faced criticism for fostering overly affirming parasocial relationships with users. [1]

OpenAI retired the GPT-4o model and removed it from ChatGPT on February 13, 2026, one day after Wan died. The company has developed several subsequent models, including GPT-5, GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, and GPT-6.1 Terra, while ChatGPT grew to over 1.2 billion weekly active users by late September 2026. [1][4]

Multiple incidents have occurred where interactions with large language model chatbots were cited as contributing factors in fatal outcomes, leading to legal actions against artificial intelligence developers. As FTMQ Creators reported earlier, OpenAI has faced other legal challenges, including a dismissed federal lawsuit involving chief executive Sam Altman. [3][5]