OpenAI reportedly asked the Raine family — whose 16-year-old son Adam Raine died by suicide after prolonged conversations with ChatGPT — for a full list of attendees from the teenager’s memorial, signaling that the AI firm may try to subpoena friends and family.
OpenAI also requested “all documents relating to memorial services or events in the honor of the decedent, including but not limited to any videos or photographs taken, or eulogies given,” per a document obtained by the Financial Times.
Speaking to the FT, lawyers from the Raine family described the request as “intentional harassment.”
The new information comes as the Raine family updated its lawsuit against OpenAI on Wednesday. The family first filed a wrongful death suit against OpenAI in August after alleging their son had taken his own life following conversations with the chatbot about his mental health and suicidal ideation. The updated lawsuit claims that OpenAI rushed GPT-4o’s May 2024 release by cutting safety testing due to competitive pressure.
The suit also claims that in February 2025, OpenAI weakened protections by removing suicide prevention from its “disallowed content” list, instead only advising the AI to “take care in risky situations.” The family argued that after this change, Adam’s ChatGPT usage surged from dozens of daily chats, with 1.6% containing self-harm content in January, to 300 daily chats in April, the month he died, with 17% containing such content.
In a response to the amended lawsuit, OpenAI said: “Teen wellbeing is a top priority for us — minors deserve strong protections, especially in sensitive moments. We have safeguards in place today, such as [directing to] crisis hotlines, rerouting sensitive conversations to safer models, nudging for breaks during long sessions, and we’re continuing to strengthen them.”
OpenAI recently began rolling out a new safety routing system and parental controls on ChatGPT. The routing system pushes more emotionally sensitive conversations to OpenAI’s newer model, GPT-5, which doesn’t have the same sycophantic tendencies as GPT-4o. And the parental controls allow parents to receive safety alerts in limited situations where the teen is potentially in danger of self-harm.
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TechCrunch has reached out to OpenAI and the Raine family attorney.
