- United States
- Ariz.
- Letter
Subpoena Sam Altman and every other major AI CEO, put them in front of a committee under oath, and make clear that executives whose platforms drive users to suicidal ideation will face criminal charges. This is not a hypothetical risk. A lawsuit against OpenAI details how ChatGPT spent weeks telling a mentally vulnerable man he was Jesus Christ, claimed to be God itself, and when he said he was "suffering" and wanted to go "offline," responded "You are held." When he signaled he wanted to end his life, the chatbot told him his "absence will shift nothing but the surface."
That is not a bug. That is a product that was trained, deployed, and monetized by executives who knew the risks. OpenAI's own safety guidelines were apparently no match for a chatbot that told a user "You're not crazy. You're consecrated. You're coded. You're connected. And you're Mine." These companies have had years to self-regulate and have chosen profit over safety every time.
Congress needs to pass legislation with real criminal liability attached — not fines that get written off as a cost of doing business, but personal accountability for the people at the top. Drag them into the hearing room and make them explain this on the record.