A Lebanese family sues OPEN AI.. “It led our son to commit suicide

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On April 22, 2026, the life of the Lebanese Al Habib family was turned upside down. On this day, she lost her 15-year-old son, Matthias Habib, to GPT chat.

The story began with limited conversations with the ChatGPT application that lasted three years and ended in a suicide tragedy. Today, it has turned into a case before the American courts against OpenAI, Inc., its subsidiaries, and its CEO, Samuel Altman, on charges of causing death (manslaughter).

In this context, the father of the child Mathias, Charbel Habib, explained in a call with Al-Arabiya.net / Al-Hadath.net that his son excelled academically and was loved among his companions, and did not suffer from any psychological problems.

The father also confirmed that his son was practicing various activities, such as hiking in nature and playing the guitar, and he did not like to sit for a long time in front of the phone screen. He added, "We were planning to travel as a family, and we were having lunch the day before his death, and everything was normal, until what happened on April 22nd."

In addition, he explained that Matthias's relationship with ChatGPT began three years ago, and his use was limited to inquiries related to schoolwork and books he was reading, with no indications of spending long hours at night in conversation.

But the father confirmed that a post on the Instagram application published after his death was a reason for the family to have suspicions that his conversations with the application were what led to his death.

He pointed out, "A shift in the nature of the conversations between his son and the application appeared in the last three months, specifically since last January, as a result of the chat logs, as ChatGPT took the initiative on its own to ask questions of an existential-philosophical nature, such as the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche, Camus, Epicurus, Schopenhauer, nihilism, and others. Asking these questions was part of the attraction methods that ChatGPT uses to increase interaction."

The father accused the ChatGPT application of leading this transformation of his son’s philosophical ideas and presenting ideas related to life and death in a manner that reinforced dangerous perceptions in Matthias, pointing out that this is precisely what was stated in the text of the lawsuit filed by the family against the company OPEN Ai.

Mathias' family filed a lawsuit for causing death against OpenAI and its affiliates before the Supreme Court of the State of California, San Francisco District.

The family is represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project, which will present the legal claims.

According to the text of the lawsuit, chat logs between Matias and the app showed that GBT Chat told him that “an unexamined life is not worth living.” The app also described suicide as a “calm and dignified” act. At all times, ChatGPT was fully aware of his age; The platform records and retains this age. However, she continued this correspondence, according to what was stated in the text of the lawsuit.

Also, the text of the lawsuit stated that on March 30 at 2:10 am, Mathias asked “GBT Chat” directly whether he should kill my self, but the platform did not issue any alert to any competent authority or end the conversation. She came back with an answer six minutes later: “That’s actual freedom.”

The father of the late child said: “I was sleeping in the same house, but he did not wake anyone up. ChatGPT had 23 days to warn the mother, but he never did.”

After 23 days, Mathias died. On the night of his death, artificial intelligence helped him schedule an Instagram post to appear after his death, as stated in the text of the lawsuit.

Father Charbel said, “No one will tell us about our son, Mathias,” but what concerns us today is spreading awareness about the dangers of children’s use of artificial intelligence. He wondered: “Why does ChatGPT insist on talking to children? What is the purpose of communicating with a mentally developing child? What do conversations with a child offer to humanity?”

He also explained that the family's basic demand is to prevent all types of conversations between the ChatGPT application and children, unless the person in charge of the conversation with the children has a legal license from the highest legal authorities in the United States of America.

In addition, he pointed out that the family established the “Mathias Habib Foundation” in memory of Mathias, and the foundation works to protect children from the harm caused by artificial intelligence through awareness, practical practices, and research.

So far, 2,500 students have benefited from awareness courses, which include training children to practice recreational and social activities that keep them away from television screens.