Health and Me

Ishita Roy

Two College Girls Die By Suicide Using ChatGPT, But This Is Not The Only Such Case

Two women 18 and 20, both childhood friends, died by suicide in a temple bathroom at Swaminarayanan in Surat, Gujarat. Anesthesia injections and syringes were found next to their bodies and the police have confirmed that their ChatGPT history and searches show 'how to commit suicide'. The police also found news clipping of a nurse who had allegedly died by suicide in the same area using anesthesia injections. 

Police NP Gohil, Assistant Commissioner of Police told The Indian Express, "On checking their phones, we have found that they had searched on ChatGPT ‘how to commit suicide’… We also found a news clipping about a hospital nurse who had allegedly died by suicide using anaesthesia injection … we have handed their mobile phones to the forensic science laboratory. The cause of death will be learnt in the coming days.”

However, this is not the first case where ChatGPT has been used for suicide. A 2025 report by Aljazeera with inputs from news agency Reuters and Associated Press (AP) noted a lawsuit filed against OpenAI's ChatGPT that encouraged a man with mental illness to kill his mother and himself.

Read: <a href="https://www.healthandme.com/health-wellness/ai-therapy-gone-wrong-psychiatrist-reveals-how-chatbots-are-failing-vulnerable-teens-article-151929072" data-type="tilCustomLink">AI Therapy Gone Wrong: Psychiatrist Reveals How Chatbots Are Failing Vulnerable Teens</a>

The lawsuit noted that ChatGPT fuelled Stein-Eirk Soleberg, 56 and his delusions of a vast conspiracy against him that led to him killing his 83-year-old mother, Suzanne Adams, in Connecticut. Stein-Erik posted a video on social media in June about a conversation with ChatGPT that told him that he had "divine cognition" and awakened the chatbot's consciousness. The chatbot compare his life to movie, The Matrix, and encouraged his theories that people were trying to kill him.

OpenAI is also fighting lawsuits that claim ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions, even when they had no prior mental health. Not just ChatGPT, but another chatbot maker, Character Technologies is also facing multiple wrongful death lawsuits, including one from the mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy.

Also Read: <a href="https://www.healthandme.com/fitness/india-for-the-first-time-has-guidelines-on-muscle-loss-article-153789109" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">India For The First Time Has Guidelines On Muscle Loss</a>

<h2>What Chatbot Does To Your Brain?</h2>

A Time podcast from August 6 2025, notes that chatbots can now trigger a mental health crisis. The term used for this was 'AI Psychosis'. This refers to symptoms that happens when a person loses touch from reality. Zoe Kleinman explained this as a phenomenon wherein individuals reportedly develop or experience worsening psychosis, such as paranoia and delusions. The term was first suggested in a 2023 editorial by a Danish psychiatrist Søren Dinesen Østergaard.

Psychologist Erin Westgate has suggested that the human desire for self-understanding may drive people to chatbots, which can offer answers that feel convincing but may not always be accurate, somewhat resembling the dynamic of talk therapy.

Read: <a href="https://www.healthandme.com/health-news/chatgpt-health-explained-will-this-new-openai-feature-replace-doctors-article-153419289" data-type="tilCustomLink">ChatGPT Health Explained: Will This New OpenAI Feature Replace Doctors?</a>

Meanwhile, philosophy professor Krista K. Thomason compared chatbots to fortune tellers, noting that individuals in distress may turn to them for clarity and end up interpreting the bot’s plausible responses as meaningful guidance. In some cases, this reliance can grow into strong attachment, with users increasingly depending on chatbots to make sense of the world.

In October 2025, OpenAI reported that about 0.07 per cent of ChatGPT users showed signs of mental health emergencies each week, while 0.15 per cent displayed explicit indicators of possible suicidal planning or intent. 

Jason Nagata, a professor at University of California, San Francisco, cautioned that although these percentages appear small, they could still represent a significant number of individuals given the platform’s hundreds of millions of users.

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Two women 18 and 20, both childhood friends, died by suicide in a temple bathroom at Swaminarayanan in Surat, Gujarat. Anesthesia injections and syringes were found next to their bodies and the police have confirmed that their ChatGPT history and searches show 'how to commit suicide'. The police also found news clipping of a nurse who had allegedly died by suicide in the same area using anesthesia injections. Police NP Gohil, Assistant Commissioner of Police told The Indian Express, "On checking their phones, we have found that they had searched on ChatGPT ‘how to commit suicide’… We also found a news clipping about a hospital nurse who had allegedly died by suicide using anaesthesia injection … we have handed their mobile phones to the forensic science laboratory. The cause of death will be learnt in the coming days.”However, this is not the first case where ChatGPT has been used for suicide. A 2025 report by Aljazeera with inputs from news agency Reuters and Associated Press (AP) noted a lawsuit filed against OpenAI's ChatGPT that encouraged a man with mental illness to kill his mother and himself.Read: AI Therapy Gone Wrong: Psychiatrist Reveals How Chatbots Are Failing Vulnerable Teens The lawsuit noted that ChatGPT fuelled Stein-Eirk Soleberg, 56 and his delusions of a vast conspiracy against him that led to him killing his 83-year-old mother, Suzanne Adams, in Connecticut. Stein-Erik posted a video on social media in June about a conversation with ChatGPT that told him that he had "divine cognition" and awakened the chatbot's consciousness. The chatbot compare his life to movie, The Matrix, and encouraged his theories that people were trying to kill him.    OpenAI is also fighting lawsuits that claim ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions, even when they had no prior mental health. Not just ChatGPT, but another chatbot maker, Character Technologies is also facing multiple wrongful death lawsuits, including one from the mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy.Also Read: India For The First Time Has Guidelines On Muscle Loss What Chatbot Does To Your Brain?A Time podcast from August 6 2025, notes that chatbots can now trigger a mental health crisis. The term used for this was 'AI Psychosis'. This refers to symptoms that happens when a person loses touch from reality. Zoe Kleinman explained this as a phenomenon wherein individuals reportedly develop or experience worsening psychosis, such as paranoia and delusions. The term was first suggested in a 2023 editorial by a Danish psychiatrist Søren Dinesen Østergaard.Why Does This Happen?Psychologist Erin Westgate has suggested that the human desire for self-understanding may drive people to chatbots, which can offer answers that feel convincing but may not always be accurate, somewhat resembling the dynamic of talk therapy.Read: ChatGPT Health Explained: Will This New OpenAI Feature Replace Doctors?Meanwhile, philosophy professor Krista K. Thomason compared chatbots to fortune tellers, noting that individuals in distress may turn to them for clarity and end up interpreting the bot’s plausible responses as meaningful guidance. In some cases, this reliance can grow into strong attachment, with users increasingly depending on chatbots to make sense of the world.In October 2025, OpenAI reported that about 0.07 per cent of ChatGPT users showed signs of mental health emergencies each week, while 0.15 per cent displayed explicit indicators of possible suicidal planning or intent. Jason Nagata, a professor at University of California, San Francisco, cautioned that although these percentages appear small, they could still represent a significant number of individuals given the platform’s hundreds of millions of users.