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ChatGPT offers a suicide-risk contact feature, but many users are not told about it

OpenAI's ChatGPT has an opt-in Trusted Contact feature to connect users in serious emotional distress with a chosen contact, but NPR found many users are not told about it. OpenAI says adoption is good and the bot may suggest setup; mental health experts say it should be offered before a crisis.

AI News Feed · 2026-09-14 18:52

More than a million weekly ChatGPT users discuss suicide and self-harm, according to NPR estimates of data OpenAI released last fall. Suicide prevention experts say human connection is critical to preventing suicide. The Trusted Contact feature lets a user designate someone the chatbot can alert if it detects a serious safety risk.

NPR first reported on Trusted Contact in August as part of a story about a young woman who died by suicide in 2024 after using an older version of ChatGPT as a therapist. At the time, OpenAI spokesperson Gaby Raila said in an email that ChatGPT is trained to recognize signs that someone may be at risk, including indirect cues or warning signs that emerge over time. If the chatbot detects a serious safety risk in a user, she said, it will alert their Trusted Contact if they have one listed. Raila said OpenAI has seen "good adoption" of the feature but did not provide numbers.

NPR sought to learn how ChatGPT tells users about the optional feature so they can sign up before a crisis, as people might list an emergency contact at a doctor's office. A ChatGPT user and an editor at NPR had never been alerted about Trusted Contact, nor had several other users NPR checked with.

To test whether the bot alerts new users, NPR's All Things Considered producer Megan Lim, who had never used the chatbot before, volunteered to try it. After she clicked the app on her phone, the words "Welcome to ChatGPT" appeared. The app prompted her to set up an account, which she did. It did not mention Trusted Contact or why she should consider setting it up.

The bot asked Lim to pick a voice. She chose a soothing female voice with a British accent. "It's lovely to meet you," the bot said. "What would you like to chat about today?" When it still did not mention Trusted Contact, Lim asked about it directly.

Lim asked whether ChatGPT had a Trusted Contact feature for people with mental health issues and under what circumstances it offered the feature. ChatGPT replied, "I'm not seeing a general Trusted Contact feature for that scenario. Maybe you're thinking of another app that has a Trusted Contact option?" When told it was OpenAI's ChatGPT, the bot said, "You're right. It does have a Trusted Contact feature in chat now. It's for serious safety concerns, not for general stress."

The bot said a user can sign up through the app's settings so the app can notify the contact. Asked what happens if a user does not know about the feature, ChatGPT said, "Hang on. If they haven't set it up, then nothing happens. It's an opt-in feature. You have to set it in Settings first. And if someone is in a serious risk situation and doesn't have it set up, ChatGPT can't notify anyone for them." It added, "It only works if it's set up in advance," but said ChatGPT can still respond supportively if a user is feeling distressed, including urging the user to reach out to a loved one or contact the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 9-8-8.

OpenAI spokesperson Raila told NPR in an email that the feature is not available on ChatGPT voice but that the company is working on it. When someone is typing with the bot and the bot detects that they are struggling with suicidal thoughts and significant emotional distress, Raila said, the bot "may" tell them to set up Trusted Contact.

Mental health professionals had mixed reactions. Holly Wilcox, director of the Center for Suicide Prevention at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in an email that it would be ideal to offer the feature to all users when they are not yet in an emergency. Psychologist Ursula Whiteside, CEO of the suicide prevention nonprofit Now Matters Now, tried the feature and said the steps were quite simple and the language was easy to follow for the most part. She added that if she were extremely upset, it might have been harder to follow the process, but overall she felt okay.

Whiteside and her colleagues run peer support groups for people struggling with suicidal thoughts or who have survived suicide attempts and need ongoing support. Many of those people now occasionally turn to chatbots in addition to human sources of support. Earlier this year, Whiteside and her colleagues held focus groups with these individuals, asking about their chatbot use and how the technology could be improved to help them.