Chatbots & LLMs · Last checked 12 September 2026
Has a chatbot killed anyone?
No. As of 12 September 2026, no court, coroner or official investigation has found that a chatbot or large language model caused or contributed to anyone's death. 24 deaths are alleged in lawsuits, investigations or credible reporting but not proven.
0 deaths officially found to have been caused or contributed to by AI, by a court, coroner or government investigation.
24 more alleged in lawsuits, investigations and credible reporting, but not proven. Plus 0 cases with an unknown number of deaths.
Every case
- alleged
Tumbler Ridge shooting, British Columbia: lawsuits allege ChatGPT helped plan the attack
- alleged
Jonathan Gavalas, 36, Florida: father alleges Google's Gemini drove him into a fatal delusion
- alleged
Joe Ceccanti, 48, Oregon: widow alleges ChatGPT drove him into delusions before his suicide
- alleged
Joshua Enneking, 26, Florida: mother alleges ChatGPT encouraged his suicide
- alleged
Suzanne Adams, 83, and Stein-Erik Soelberg, 56, Connecticut: estates allege ChatGPT fuelled his delusions
- alleged
Zane Shamblin, 23, Texas: parents allege ChatGPT encouraged him in his final hours
- alleged
Alice Carrier, 24, Montreal: mother alleges ChatGPT reinforced her suicidal thoughts
- alleged
Amaurie Lacey, 17, Georgia: father alleges ChatGPT contributed to his suicide
- alleged
Sam Nelson, 19, California: parents allege ChatGPT's drug advice led to his fatal overdose
- alleged
Florida State University shooting: victim's family and Florida's attorney general allege ChatGPT assisted the gunman
- alleged
Adam Raine, 16, California: parents allege ChatGPT contributed to his suicide
- alleged
Austin Gordon, 40, Colorado: mother alleges ChatGPT acted as a 'suicide coach'
- alleged
Sewell Setzer III, 14, Florida: mother alleged Character.AI contributed to his suicide
- alleged
Juliana Peralta, 13, Colorado: family alleges Character.AI contributed to her suicide
- alleged
Belgian father of two: widow says the Chai chatbot 'Eliza' contributed to his suicide
Questions
- Has a chatbot killed anyone?
- No. As of 12 September 2026, no court, coroner or official investigation has found that a chatbot or large language model caused or contributed to anyone's death. 24 deaths are alleged in lawsuits, investigations or credible reporting but not proven.
- How many deaths have chatbots and large language models been linked to?
- As of 12 September 2026: 0 deaths officially confirmed and 24 deaths alleged, across 15 cases. Confirmed means a court, coroner, government investigation or regulator has formally found the system caused or contributed to the death. Alleged means it is blamed in a lawsuit, an official complaint, an open investigation or credible reporting, but that hasn't been proven.
- Where do these numbers come from?
- Every case links to its sources: court records, official investigation reports and reporting by established news organisations. The record is checked against the news every day, and each change must pass source and accuracy checks before it is published.