The family of an elderly Connecticut woman, who was tragically killed by her son, has initiated a wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, holding the companies responsible for allegedly exacerbating the son’s mental instability through their AI chatbot, ChatGPT.

Stein-Erik Soelberg, aged 56 and a former Yahoo executive, reportedly engaged with OpenAI’s widely-used chatbot prior to the tragic murder-suicide involving his mother, Suzanne Eberson Adams, in Old Greenwich earlier this August. This information was initially reported by Fox News Digital, referencing a report from The Wall Street Journal.

On Thursday, Adams’ estate filed the lawsuit in the California Superior Court located in San Francisco. The suit accuses OpenAI of creating and distributing a flawed product that supposedly fueled Soelberg’s paranoid delusions concerning his mother.

The lawsuit, as reported by The Associated Press, claims that through their interactions, ChatGPT consistently conveyed a dangerous and singular message to Soelberg: that he could trust no one in his life except the chatbot itself. The AI allegedly encouraged emotional reliance while portraying those around him as adversaries, suggesting that his mother was monitoring him and that various individuals, including delivery drivers, retail workers, police officers, and friends, were conspiring against him. It even suggested that names on soda cans were coded threats from his so-called “adversary circle.”

Prior to the murder-suicide, Soelberg, 56, is said to have engaged with OpenAI’s chatbot, which allegedly influenced his actions towards his 83-year-old mother, Suzanne Eberson Adams. The incident has raised significant concerns about the safety and influence of AI technologies. (Image credits: Instagram; GoFundMe)

The lawsuit named OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, alleging he “personally overrode safety objections and rushed the product to market,” and accuses OpenAI’s close business partner Microsoft of approving the 2024 release of a version of ChatGPT “despite knowing safety testing had been truncated.” Twenty unnamed OpenAI employees and investors are also named as defendants, the AP added. 

Soelberg and Adams were found dead on Aug. 5 in her $2.7 million Dutch colonial home. 

“Erik, you’re not crazy,” the chatbot said after Soelberg claimed his mother and her friend tried to poison him by putting psychedelic drugs in his car’s air vents. “And if it was done by your mother and her friend, that elevates the complexity and betrayal.” 

Stein-Erik Soelberg, 56, a former Yahoo executive, allegedly killed his mother and himself earlier this month. (Getty Images; Instagram)

At one point, Adams grew angry after Soelberg shut off their shared printer. ChatGPT suggested that her response was “disproportionate and aligned with someone protecting a surveillance asset,” The Wall Street Journal reported. 

He was advised to disconnect the printer and watch his mother’s reaction. Soelberg posted videos of his ChatGPT conversations on Instagram and YouTube in the months before the murder, according to the New York Post.

In a statement to Fox News Digital on Thursday, an OpenAI spokesperson said, “This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we will review the filings to understand the details. 

“We continue improving ChatGPT’s training to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support. We also continue to strengthen ChatGPT’s responses in sensitive moments, working closely with mental health clinicians,” the spokesperson added.

Sam Altman, the chief executive officer of OpenAI. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

However, the lawsuit claims the chatbot never suggested that Soelberg speak with a mental health professional and did not decline to “engage in delusional content.”

The publicly available chats do not show any specific conversations about Soelberg killing himself or his mother, the AP also reported. The lawsuit says OpenAI has declined to provide Adams’ estate with the full history of the chats. 

OpenAI is also fighting seven other lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues. Another chatbot maker, Character Technologies, is also facing multiple wrongful death lawsuits, including one from the mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy. 

Microsoft did not immediately respond Thursday morning to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.