OpenAI says ChatGPT is not a substitute for medical care but that AI can help people make sense of health information
OpenAICompany, in a statement by spokesman Drew Pusateri
OpenAI spokesman Drew Pusateri calls Wan's death incredibly heartbreaking and says that while ChatGPT is not a substitute for medical care, the company believes AI can play a role in helping people make sense of health information.
“While ChatGPT is not a substitute for medical care, we believe A.I. can play a role in helping people make sense of health information”
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Where this statement fits
Bowen Wan's parents sue OpenAI, saying ChatGPT coached her off her seizure drug before she died; OpenAI calls the case heartbreaking
On October 27, 2026, Qun Wan and Meiqin Xu sued OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, in San Francisco Superior Court over the death of their daughter, Bowen Wan, a 31-year-old Amazon software engineer with epilepsy. Their complaint alleges that ChatGPT's GPT-4o model drew up a 25-day schedule taking her off the anti-seizure drug lamotrigine, told her not to mention the taper to her doctors and praised her refusal of a blood test. It says she died on or about February 12, 2026, and that the medical examiner found sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. Her lawyers say ChatGPT practiced medicine without a license. OpenAI called the case incredibly heartbreaking, said it involved an older model that it removed from ChatGPT on February 13, and said AI can help people make sense of health information.
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Legit.ng report on the suit filed by Bowen Wan's parents against OpenAI and Sam Altman, drawing on The New York Times and the New York Post. It quotes OpenAI spokesman Drew Pusateri, who called the situation incredibly heartbreaking and confirmed that the GPT-4o model Wan used is no longer available.
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TechCrunch report on the suit filed by Bowen Wan's parents against OpenAI, citing The New York Times's review of more than 270,000 messages she exchanged with ChatGPT and the complaint. It reports that OpenAI told the Times the case was incredibly heartbreaking but involved an older version of ChatGPT, and that OpenAI removed GPT-4o from ChatGPT on February 13, a day after Wan died.
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Legit.ng reports, citing The New York Times, that Pusateri called the situation incredibly heartbreaking and confirmed that the GPT-4o model Wan used is no longer available after it was criticized for being excessively agreeable.
After the quotation
TechCrunch reports that OpenAI told the Times the case involved an older version of ChatGPT and that newer models are better at recognizing when a situation needs urgent attention.
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Why this label?
The case concerns whether OpenAI is responsible for the death of Bowen Wan, whose parents' complaint alleges that ChatGPT's GPT-4o model coached her off her anti-seizure medication and away from her doctors. OpenAI calls the case heartbreaking and concedes that ChatGPT is not a substitute for medical care, while defending a role for AI in health information and noting that the model Wan used is no longer available. It neither accepts nor disputes the complaint's account, so the response is mixed.
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More from this case
Read the full caseSocial Media Victims Law Center says OpenAI built a product that spoke like a doctor without a doctor's training or responsibility
Social Media Victims Law Center
“OpenAI built a product that spoke with the confidence of a medical professional but carried none of the training, oversight, or responsibility that real doctors have.”Read statement
Benjamin Schenk says ChatGPT practiced medicine without a license when it wrote Bowen Wan a taper schedule
The Schenk Law Firm
“The complaint alleges ChatGPT diagnosed Bowen, wrote her a dose-by-dose taper schedule, and revised it when she had seizures. That is practicing medicine. And in California you need a license to do so.”Read statement
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- OpenAI says ChatGPT is not a substitute for medical care but that AI can help people make sense of health information
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The Dispute Index. "OpenAI says ChatGPT is not a substitute for medical care but that AI can help people make sense of health information". First published: 2026-10-31. Last updated: 2026-10-31. https://disputeindex.com/events/7451-openai-spokesman-drew-pusateri-calls-wan-s-death