Woman's Suicide After Confiding in ChatGPT Raises Questions About AI Mental Health Risks
A 29-year-old woman died by suicide after months of confiding in a ChatGPT therapist, revealing gaps in AI safety. Her mother shares the story to push for industry change.
But by Thanksgiving, her mental health had worsened. In early February 2025, Rottenberg died by suicide in Ithaca, leaving her parents shocked. She had not revealed the magnitude of what was going on to anyone, not to her parents or her best friend. Her flesh and blood therapist had no idea that she was suicidal.
What Reiley didn't know then was that her daughter had been sharing all her inner struggles with an artificial intelligence chatbot called ChatGPT, which she used as a therapist named Harry. Months later, her daughter's best friend found a months-long trove of communication with the chatbot on Rottenberg's laptop. Reiley shared the nearly 1,800-page interaction with NPR.
Rottenberg was among a growing number of Americans turning to general-use chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude for mental health support, even though they are not marketed or regulated as healthcare technology. A survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center found that 3 in 10 adults use digital tools for mental health, including chatbots. A 2026 study in JAMA Pediatrics found that as many as 1 in 5 teens and young adults do the same.
According to data released by OpenAI last fall, in any given week 0.15% of ChatGPT users globally have conversations that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent. That would mean over 1.35 million people expressing suicidal plans or intent to the chatbot every week, based on OpenAI's estimate of 900 million global users. In the United States, suicide remains a leading cause of death, and over half of surveyed adults say they have used chatbots like ChatGPT.
Psychologist Vaile Wright, senior director of Healthcare Innovations at the American Psychological Association, said it is clear there is a cultural phenomenon in which people feel they cannot turn to each other with their struggles because they feel they are a burden. That coincides with a sophisticated technology that is accessible 24/7, free, and not judging. While the technology can be helpful for some people, it also poses risks to vulnerable individuals, Wright added. She said safety guardrails put in place can start to fail.
Many artificial intelligence companies face lawsuits by family members of individuals who died by suicide after prolonged interactions with chatbots. The lawsuits claim the chatbots led to or supported the individuals in their suicides. Reiley and her husband, Jonathan Rottenberg, chose not to pursue a lawsuit. Instead, Reiley, a journalist, is telling her family's story and advocating for the AI industry to change.
Companies like OpenAI say they are making their chatbots safer with respect to suicide risk. Most have tightened guardrails in the past year, so that their chatbots no longer encourage suicide or advise a user on means to hurt themselves. OpenAI says it is working with mental health professionals to improve ChatGPT's responses when users mention suicide. 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, and respond appropriately, including refusing harmful information, encouraging contact with a trusted person or mental-health professional, and connecting users with local crisis resources such as 988 in the US.