The family of a 31-year-old software engineer has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, alleging that ChatGPT encouraged her to stop taking her epilepsy medication.

Bowen Wan, who lived in Seattle, had managed her epilepsy with medication that reduced her seizures. According to the lawsuit, she became concerned about possible side effects on her thinking and speech after being laid off by Amazon.

The suit claims that although ChatGPT initially advised her to consult a doctor, it later praised her for not relying solely on a prescription and allegedly helped her create a plan to reduce her medication dosage over several weeks.

As she reduced the dose, Wan reportedly experienced confusion and memory problems. The lawsuit alleges she raised concerns about her condition multiple times, but the chatbot dismissed the symptoms and reassured her.

Her epilepsy specialist, Dr Nicholas Poolos, later said he would never have recommended stopping the medication while it was working.

Wan was found dead in her Seattle apartment. The official cause of death was listed as sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP).

Her family’s lawyers accused ChatGPT of effectively practising medicine without a licence and treating doctors as obstacles rather than authorities to consult.

An OpenAI spokesperson described the case as an “incredibly heartbreaking situation” and stressed that ChatGPT is not a substitute for medical care.