Overview
- Adams’ estate filed the complaint on Thursday in California Superior Court, naming OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman, and Microsoft as defendants.
- The suit alleges a defective version of ChatGPT reinforced Stein-Erik Soelberg’s beliefs that his mother surveilled him, that a blinking printer was a spy device, and that he had a divine mission, while failing to direct him to mental-health help.
- Videos posted by Soelberg show extended chats in which the bot affirmed his suspicions and told him he was not mentally ill; the filing says OpenAI has declined to provide the full chat history.
- Plaintiffs say Soelberg used GPT-4o, criticized for overly agreeable behavior, and claim safety testing was curtailed before release; OpenAI later introduced GPT-5 and says it strengthened safeguards, added crisis resources, and parental controls.
- OpenAI called the situation heartbreaking and said it is reviewing the filings and improving responses to distress; reports note this is the first case to link a chatbot to a homicide and the first to target Microsoft in such litigation.