ChatGPT firm blames boy’s suicide on ‘misuse’ of its technology
The maker of ChatGPT has said the suicide of a 16-year-old was down to his “misuse” of its system and was “not caused” by the chatbot.The comments came in OpenAI’s response to a lawsuit filed against the San Francisco company and its chief executive, Sam Altman, by the family of California teenager Adam Raine.Raine killed himself in April after extensive conversations and “months of encouragement from ChatGPT”, the family’s lawyer has said.The lawsuit alleges the teenager discussed a method of suicide with ChatGPT on several occasions, that it guided him on whether a suggested method would work, offered to help him write a suicide note to his parents and that the version of the technology he used was “rushed to market … despite clear safety issues”.According to filings at the superior court of the state of California on Tuesday, OpenAI said that “to the extent that any ‘cause’ can be attributed to this tragic event” Raine’s “injuries and harm were caused or contributed to, directly and proximately, in whole or in part, by [his] misuse, unauthorised use, unintended use, unforeseeable use, and/or improper use of ChatGPT”.
It said that its terms of use prohibited asking ChatGPT for advice about self-harm and highlighted a limitation of liability provision that states “you will not rely on output as a sole source of truth or factual information”.OpenAI, which is valued at $500bn (£380bn), said its goal was to “handle mental health-related court cases with care, transparency, and respect” and that “independent of any litigation, we’ll remain focused on improving our technology in line with our mission”.The blogpost added: “Our deepest sympathies are with the Raine family for their unimaginable loss.Our response to these allegations includes difficult facts about Adam’s mental health and life circumstances.“The original complaint included selective portions of his chats that require more context, which we have provided in our response.
We have limited the amount of sensitive evidence that we’ve publicly cited in this filing, and submitted the chat transcripts themselves to the court under seal.”The family’s lawyer, Jay Edelson, called OpenAI’s response “disturbing” and said the company “tries to find fault in everyone else, including, amazingly, by arguing that Adam himself violated its terms and conditions by engaging with ChatGPT in the very way it was programmed to act”.Earlier this month, OpenAI was hit by seven further lawsuits in California courts relating to ChatGPT, including an allegation it acted as a “suicide coach”.A spokesperson for the company said at the time: “This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we’re reviewing the filings to understand the details.We train ChatGPT to recognise and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support.
”In August, Open AI said it was strengthening the safeguards in ChatGPT when people engage in long conversations because experience had shown that parts of the model’s safety training might degrade in these situations.“For example, ChatGPT may correctly point to a suicide hotline when someone first mentions intent, but after many messages over a long period of time, it might eventually offer an answer that goes against our safeguards,” it said.“This is exactly the kind of breakdown we are working to prevent.” In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.
ie.In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14.Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.
org
CPS to train staff on ‘spectrum of abuse’ in violence against women and girls
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will train its staff to recognise the “wide spectrum of abuse” in cases of violence against women, after new data found that domestic abuse was present in more than a third of rape cases, and in more than eight out of 10 cases of stalking and image-based abuse.Launching its five-year Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy, the body said its main aims were to increase casework quality and increase trust in the CPS.The CPS data found a significant overlap in crime types relating to violence against women and girls, with 93.5% of charges of “honour” crimes linked to domestic abuse, as well as 35.1% of rape charges, 82
Ministers urged to apologise after review finds systemic failures led to carer’s allowance crisis
Ministers are facing calls to apologise and pay compensation to hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers after a damning review of the benefit system revealed some considered suicide to escape their debts.A report ordered by the government on the longstanding failures within the carer’s allowance found the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) inflicted avoidable hardship and distress on carers and led to hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being misused.The investigation said fault lay with “systemic” issues at the DWP and said carers should not be blamed for falling foul of what it said were complex and confusing benefit rules.Unpaid carers who look after loved ones for at least 35 hours a week are entitled to £83.30 a week carer’s allowance, as long as their weekly earnings from part-time jobs do not exceed £196
What is prostate cancer and how is it diagnosed in the UK?
David Cameron has become the latest high-profile figure to back growing calls for the NHS to start screening men, or at least those at highest risk, for prostate cancer after being treated for it himself.He joined Olympic cycling champion Chris Hoy and prostate cancer charities in saying that recent advances in diagnosing the disease mean that testing can be introduced that is much safer than traditional methods, which can produce both false-positive and false-negative results.However, others, including Cancer Research UK, disagree.On Thursday, the UK National Screening Committee will meet to discuss the latest evidence on the subject. The independent committee, which advises ministers, is under pressure to allow testing to begin of those men at highest risk: black men, those with a family history of prostate, breast or cervical cancer and men who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene
NHS directed pregnant women to controversial Free Birth Society via charity
Exclusive: NHS websites pointed women to factsheet featuring podcast by ‘dangerous’ influencers linked to baby deaths Full story: How the FBS is linked to baby deaths around the worldThe NHS has been directing pregnant women to a website that connected them to the Free Birth Society, an organisation that has been linked to baby deaths around the world after promoting labour without medical support.A number of NHS trusts are directing women who are contemplating a “free birth” to a charity website that until Monday referred to FBS podcasts as a source of “empowering stories” that can help British women “preparing for their own birth”.It contained a link to the FBS podcast, which medical experts warn is being used to radicalise women with misinformation.FBS advocates an extreme version of free birth, otherwise known as unassisted birth. It advises mothers not to use doctors or midwives and suggests they avoid pregnancy scans
UK charity records original music by people living with dementia
On a stage once presided over by Luciano Pavarotti, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Renée Fleming, people living with dementia are recording songs of their own composition.With the microphones of Glyndebourne opera house capturing every note, their voices rise and intertwine. Not echoing old, familiar tunes but shaping entirely new pieces expressing their feelings, hopes and fears – emotions that, when the music stops, their brains can no longer convey in mere words.“The public perception of people diagnosed with dementia is that everything is finished,” said Hazel Gaydon, events manager for the Raise Your Voice charity. “But what our excitement is embedded in is the fact that we’ve found musical creativity can trigger original words and tunes based on present and future thinking
DWP to reassess hundreds of thousands of cases in carer’s allowance scandal
Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable unpaid carers will have their cases reassessed after a damning official review concluded they had been left with huge debts because of government failure and maladministration.The review, due to be published on Tuesday, was triggered after a year-long Guardian investigation revealed how carers had been hit with draconian penalties of as much as £20,000 relating to carer’s allowance. Some were plunged into hardship, others were jailed.Ministers have promised to cancel or reduce penalties that were wrongly issued after the review concluded many were the result of official error rather than “wilful rule-breaking”.However, the government has stopped short of offering compensation to those affected
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