ChatGPT can reach out to a friend if you're at risk of self-harm

OpenAI has introduced Trusted Contact for ChatGPT, which will allow users to nominate a friend that the company can contact if they're at risk of harming themselves. More and more people have been using ChatGPT as a digital therapist, relying on the chatbot for their mental health needs. OpenAI previously told the BBC that more than a million of its 800 million weekly users express suicidal thoughts in their conversations. 

Last year, OpenAI faced a wrongful death lawsuit, accusing the company of enabling a teenager's suicide. The lawsuit alleged that the teenager talked to ChatGPT about four previous attempts to end his life and then helped him plan his actual suicide. The BBC's investigation published in November 2025 found that in at least one instance, ChatGPT advised the user on how to kill herself. OpenAI told the news organization that it had improved how its chatbot ...