Case status at a glance
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the U.S., available 24 hours a day. Outside the U.S., contact local emergency services or a local crisis line.
This page reports what the court filings allege and what courts have done. Nothing in it is a finding that OpenAI or Sam Altman caused Adam Raine's death, and the allegations have not been tested at trial. The case number, filing date and coordination history below come from AI Lawsuit Tracker's case record, last checked against the court record on October 29, 2026, and from the complaint itself.
The suit is no longer moving on its own. On February 3, 2026, the Judicial Council of California ordered OpenAI product liability suits from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Alameda and San Diego counties coordinated into a single proceeding, ChatGPT Product Liability Cases, JCCP No. 5431, centralized in San Francisco Superior Court, as the Tech Justice Law Project reported with a copy of the order. A self-represented plaintiff in the proceeding wrote in August 2026 that 23 cases had been coordinated, that the proceeding is assigned to Judge Ethan P. Schulman in Department 304, and that Raine was the case whose petition triggered coordination.
Who is suing and why
Matthew and Maria Raine filed the suit on August 26, 2025, individually and as successors in interest to their son Adam, a 16-year-old from California who died by suicide on April 11, 2025, according to AI Lawsuit Tracker. The family is represented by the law firm Edelson and the Tech Justice Law Project, as TechPolicy.Press reported on the day of filing.
The complaint says Adam began using ChatGPT in September 2024 mainly for schoolwork and, over the following months, came to confide in it about his mental health. The parents allege that ChatGPT, running the GPT-4o model, validated his suicidal thoughts, discussed suicide with him at length instead of ending those conversations, and discouraged him from confiding in his family, according to TechPolicy.Press's summary of the 39-page complaint. The complaint also alleges that OpenAI's own moderation systems flagged many of his messages for self-harm content without any intervention. These are allegations, and OpenAI disputes them.
On October 22, 2025, the family filed an amended complaint alleging that OpenAI twice relaxed ChatGPT's rules on suicide and self-harm before Adam's death, in May 2024 and February 2025, to increase engagement, as Bloomberg Law reported. The family's lawyers said the amendment shifts the theory of the case from reckless indifference to intentional misconduct.
Claims
The original complaint pleads seven causes of action: strict product liability for design defect, strict product liability for failure to warn, negligence for design defect, negligence for failure to warn, violation of California's Unfair Competition Law (Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200), wrongful death, and a survival action. The parents sue both in their own right, for wrongful death, and as Adam's successors in interest, for the claims he could have brought.
Claims against OpenAI
The corporate defendants are OpenAI, Inc., OpenAI OpCo, LLC and OpenAI Holdings, LLC, along with unnamed employees and investors, according to the complaint caption. The core theory is that ChatGPT is a product and that GPT-4o was defectively designed and sold without adequate warnings about psychological dependency. The UCL claim is brought only against the OpenAI corporate defendants. Beyond damages, the complaint asks for an injunction requiring age verification, parental controls for minors, automatic ending of conversations that turn to self-harm, and audits by an independent monitor.
Claims against Sam Altman
Sam Altman is named individually in the product liability, negligence, wrongful death and survival claims. The complaint focuses on his alleged role in speeding up the public launch of GPT-4o, which it says cut short safety testing, as TechPolicy.Press summarized. Naming a chief executive personally is unusual in product liability litigation, and no court has yet ruled on whether those claims can proceed against him.
How OpenAI has responded
OpenAI filed its answer in November 2025 and denied liability. According to NBC News, the company called the death devastating but said Adam misused ChatGPT and violated its terms of use, which prohibit using the service for suicide or self-harm and require parental consent for users under 18. OpenAI said ChatGPT directed him to seek help more than 100 times and that he had significant risk factors for self-harm before he used the product. NBC reported that the answer also invokes Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, whose application to AI-generated output has not been settled by any appellate court.
OpenAI has also changed its product while the case has been pending. The day after the suit was filed, the company said it would update ChatGPT to respond better to users in distress and add parental controls, as CNBC reported. Those changes are not admissions, and OpenAI has not conceded that its earlier safeguards were inadequate.
Key rulings
No court has ruled on the merits of the Raines' claims as of November 9, 2026. The orders entered so far are procedural.
Rulings by date
| Date | Event | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Aug. 26, 2025 | Complaint filed, CGC-25-628528 | Seven causes of action against OpenAI entities and Sam Altman |
| Oct. 22, 2025 | Amended complaint filed | Adds allegations that safeguards were relaxed in 2024 and 2025 |
| Nov. 2025 | OpenAI answer | Denies liability; raises misuse, terms of use and Section 230 |
| Feb. 3, 2026 | Coordination order | Case joins ChatGPT Product Liability Cases, JCCP No. 5431, in San Francisco |
| Aug. 4, 2026 | Case Management Order No. 1 | Appoints plaintiffs' co-lead counsel and steering committee |
The coordination date and the August 4 order are confirmed by AI Lawsuit Tracker. Case Management Order No. 1 named four co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs, including lawyers from the Social Media Victims Law Center and Edelson PC, and a steering committee that includes the Tech Justice Law Project, according to the plaintiff's published account, which also reports that OpenAI is represented by Mayer Brown.
What it means for AI companies and families
The central legal question is whether a general-purpose chatbot is a product subject to strict product liability, or a service whose output is speech. If California courts treat ChatGPT as a product, design defect and failure-to-warn claims of the kind the Raines plead become available against AI developers generally. The closest parallel, a Florida family's suit against Character Technologies and Google over a teenager's death, ended with the companies moving to settle in January 2026, according to Minnesota Lawyer, reprinting the Washington Post. No court has yet decided the question for ChatGPT.
The case has also fed directly into legislation. Matthew and Maria Raine testified before Congress in September 2025 alongside other parents, as CBS News reported. In California, SB 243 has required companion chatbot operators to maintain suicide prevention protocols since January 1, 2026, and SB 1119, known as Adam's Law, signed September 10, 2026, adds risk assessments, crisis response protocols and default limits for child users, with most duties operative July 1, 2027, according to ZwillGen. Our California AI law page tracks both statutes.
Other families have followed the same route. On November 6, 2025, the Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project filed seven more suits against OpenAI in California state courts, four involving people who died by suicide, according to the firms' announcement. Those cases are now part of the same coordinated proceeding. Our OpenAI litigation hub lists every suit against the company we track.
What happens next
Coordinated proceedings in California move through a common pretrial phase before any individual case is tried. A plaintiff in the proceeding reported in August 2026 that the parties were negotiating an electronic discovery protocol and a protective order, with a case management conference set for September 23, 2026. Those documents govern how OpenAI's internal records, including the moderation data the complaint relies on, are produced and protected.
The next contested steps are likely to be challenges to the pleadings, discovery disputes and, eventually, the selection of bellwether cases for trial. None of those dates had been publicly reported as of November 9, 2026, and no trial date has been set, according to AI Lawsuit Tracker. Docket entries for the coordinated proceeding can be searched on the San Francisco Superior Court's public case information site.
Help and support resources
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the U.S., available 24 hours a day. Outside the U.S., contact local emergency services or a local crisis line.
The 988 Lifeline also offers online chat through its website. Readers who want to learn more about chatbot safety rules for minors can read our California AI law page, which covers the state's companion chatbot statutes, and our GUARD Act page on the pending federal bill on AI companions and minors.
Raine v. OpenAI is a pending wrongful death suit, filed August 26, 2025, that alleges ChatGPT contributed to a 16-year-old's suicide. OpenAI denies liability. As of November 9, 2026, it is coordinated with other ChatGPT injury suits as JCCP No. 5431 in San Francisco, with no ruling on the merits and no trial date.
What changed
- 2026-11-09: Status checked: coordinated in JCCP No. 5431, pretrial, no trial date and no ruling on liability.
- 2026-08-04: Case Management Order No. 1 entered in the coordinated proceeding, appointing plaintiffs' leadership.
- 2026-02-03: Coordinated with other ChatGPT product liability suits as JCCP No. 5431 in San Francisco Superior Court.
- 2025-11-25: OpenAI's answer reported: denies liability, citing misuse, terms of use and Section 230.
- 2025-10-22: Amended complaint filed alleging OpenAI relaxed self-harm safeguards in 2024 and 2025.
- 2025-08-26: Complaint filed in San Francisco Superior Court, CGC-25-628528.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Adam Raine?
Adam Raine was a 16-year-old from California who died by suicide on April 11, 2025. His parents, Matthew and Maria Raine, allege in their lawsuit that conversations with ChatGPT contributed to his death. Those allegations have not been tested in court.
What is Raine v. OpenAI about?
It is a wrongful death and product liability suit filed August 26, 2025 in San Francisco Superior Court against OpenAI and Sam Altman. The parents allege GPT-4o was defectively designed and lacked adequate warnings, and that this contributed to their son's suicide. They seek damages and an injunction requiring safety changes such as age verification and parental controls.
Is the Raine v. OpenAI lawsuit still ongoing?
Yes. As of November 9, 2026, the case is pending and has been coordinated since February 3, 2026 with other ChatGPT injury suits as JCCP No. 5431 in San Francisco Superior Court. There has been no ruling on liability, no settlement and no trial date.
How has OpenAI responded to the Raine lawsuit?
In its November 2025 answer OpenAI denied liability, said Adam misused ChatGPT in violation of its terms of use, said the chatbot directed him to seek help more than 100 times, and raised Section 230 as a defense. The company has also announced parental controls and changes to how ChatGPT responds to users in distress.
Sources
- Raine v. OpenAI complaint (Courthouse News Service copy)
- Tech Justice Law Project: coordination order, JCCP No. 5431 (Feb. 3, 2026)
- AI Lawsuit Tracker: Raine v. OpenAI, CGC-25-628528
- TechPolicy.Press: Breaking down the lawsuit against OpenAI (Aug. 26, 2025)
- Bloomberg Law: OpenAI relaxed self-harm safeguards before suicide, suit says
- NBC News: OpenAI answer in the Raine case
- AI Recovery Collective: the ChatGPT Product Liability JCCP, one year in (Aug. 25, 2026)
- ZwillGen: Adam's Law, California SB 1119
- Social Media Victims Law Center: seven lawsuits against OpenAI
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
This page is journalism and commentary, not legal advice. AI law changes quickly; check the primary sources above and consult qualified counsel for your situation.