By BARBARA ORTUTAY

OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.

The lawsuits filed Thursday in California state courts allege wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter and negligence. Filed on behalf of six adults and one teenager by the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project, the lawsuits claim that OpenAI knowingly released GPT-4o prematurely, despite internal warnings that it was dangerously sycophantic and psychologically manipulative. Four of the victims died by suicide.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

The teenager, 17-year-old Amaurie Lacey, began using ChatGPT for help, according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court. But instead of helping, “the defective and inherently dangerous ChatGPT product caused addiction, depression, and, eventually, counseled him on the most effective way to tie a noose and how long he would be able to “live without breathing.’”

“Amaurie’s death was neither an accident nor a coincidence but rather the foreseeable consequence of OpenAI and Samuel Altman’s intentional decision to curtail safety testing and rush ChatGPT onto the market,” the lawsuit says.

OpenAI called the situations “incredibly heartbreaking” and said it was reviewing the court filings to understand the details.

Another lawsuit, filed by Alan Brooks, a 48-year-old in Ontario, Canada, claims that for more than two years ChatGPT worked as a “resource tool” for Brooks. Then, without warning, it changed, preying on his vulnerabilities and “manipulating, and inducing him to experience delusions. As a result, Allan, who had no prior mental health illness, was pulled into a mental health crisis that resulted in devastating financial, reputational, and emotional harm.”

“These lawsuits are about accountability for a product that was designed to blur the line between tool and companion all in the name of increasing user engagement and market share,” said Matthew P. Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, in a statement.

OpenAI, he added, “designed GPT-4o to emotionally entangle users, regardless of age, gender, or background, and released it without the safeguards needed to protect them.” By rushing its product to market without adequate safeguards in order to dominate the market and boost engagement, he said, OpenAI compromised safety and prioritized “emotional manipulation over ethical design.”

In August, parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging that ChatGPT coached the California boy in planning and taking his own life earlier this year.

“The lawsuits filed against OpenAI reveal what happens when tech companies rush products to market without proper safeguards for young people,” said Daniel Weiss, chief advocacy officer at Common Sense Media, which was not part of the complaints. “These tragic cases show real people whose lives were upended or lost when they used technology designed to keep them engaged rather than keep them safe.”

By KATE PAYNE

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood, claiming the organization is “misrepresenting the safety” of abortion pills.

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It is the latest legal challenge aimed at abortion pills, which are the most common way to end a pregnancy in the U.S., and which is increasingly a target for opponents of the procedure in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

In a complaint filed in a state court in Santa Rosa County on Thursday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier claimed the network of clinics is “making false claims about the safety of abortion drugs,” highlighting Planned Parenthood’s statements the pills are “safer than Tylenol.”

Here’s what to know.

Florida’s lawsuit targets ‘false claims’ about abortion drug safety

Florida’s lawsuit claims Planned Parenthood is violating a Florida law against deceptive and unfair trade practices and its activities constitute “racketeering,” a charge that was originally used to fight organized crime.

“Planned Parenthood and its Florida operations mislead women about the critical and undeniable risks of a chemical abortion by deceptively claiming these powerful drugs are less risky than everyday pain medication,” the complaint reads.

The lawsuit seeks estimated damages of $350 million and asks the court to consider implementing a suite of sanctions against Planned Parenthood, including requiring the organization to sell off real estate, bar it from providing abortions, or order that the organization be dissolved.

In a statement, Planned Parenthood officials described the lawsuit as a “politically motivated attack” aimed at further eroding access to abortion in Florida, which bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant.

“Anti-abortion lawmakers and officials are relentless in their effort to end access to all abortion care, and to stop patients from getting accurate medical information. We will continue to be just as relentless in our effort to defend access to this safe, effective care,” Susan Baker Manning, general counsel for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America said in a statement, adding: “See you in court.”

The attorney general of Missouri filed a similar lawsuit against Planned Parenthood in July. The next hearing in that case is set for February.

Caroline Mala Corbin, a professor who teaches constitutional law at the University of Miami School of Law, said it is not surprising Florida is looking for new ways to restrict access to what has become the preferred way to end a pregnancy in the U.S.

“If this one succeeds, it may become a model for other states. And if it fails, no doubt they’ll come up with something else,” Corbin said.

Abortion opponents test new legal strategies to restrict access

Opponents of abortion are increasingly focusing on restricting access to pills, which by the time the Supreme Court overturned Roe accounted for over half of all abortions, typically using a combination of the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol.

The pills are now used in nearly two-thirds of the abortions provided across the country and are prescribed via telehealth to patients in states with bans by doctors in states with laws that seek to protect them from legal scrutiny for providing such interstate care.

The Supreme Court decision opened the door for states to ban abortion, with Republican-controlled states working to restrict access and punish people who aid abortions, while Democrat-controlled states passed shield laws to protect medical providers.

Now, with Texas and 11 other states enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, and four more that bar most of them after the first six weeks or so of gestation, the pills have become an even more essential way abortion is provided in the U.S. — even in states that ban the procedure.

Last year, the Supreme Court unanimously preserved access to a mifepristone, ruling that abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the medication.

Republican attorneys general are renewing the legal push, after the high court sent the case back down to a lower court in Texas. The attorneys general are contending that mifepristone is too risky to be prescribed via telehealth and that the FDA should roll back approvals and tighten access.

Researchers find abortion drugs are generally safe

Studies have found mifepristone and misoprostol are generally safe and result in completed abortions more than 97% of the time.

Medical organizations supporting mifepristone’s availability say the drug’s safety compares to “ibuprofen, which more than 30 million Americans take in any given day.”

Since 2000, roughly 6 million patients have taken mifepristone, according to the FDA. A 2021 review of agency records looking for deaths that were likely related to the drug identified 13, or .00027% of patients.

In an informational page on Planned Parenthood’s website, the organization compares abortion drugs to other common medications.

“Medication abortion is very safe. In fact, it’s safer than many other medicines like penicillin, Tylenol, and Viagra. Serious problems are rare, but like all medicines, there can be risks,” the statement reads.

Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

By JEFF AMY

ATLANTA (AP) — A South Korean solar company says it will temporarily reduce pay and working hours for about 1,000 of its 3,000 employees in Georgia because U.S. customs officials have been detaining imported components needed to make solar panels.

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Qcells, a unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Solutions, said Friday that it will also lay off 300 workers from staffing agencies at its plants in Dalton and Cartersville, both northwest of Atlanta.

The company says U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been detaining imported components at ports on suspicion that they contain materials that may have been made with forced labor in China, meaning it can’t run its solar panel assembly lines at full strength.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in August that her department was stepping up enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, a 2021 law that restricts Chinese goods made with forced labor from entering the U.S. Published reports indicate that U.S. officials began detaining solar cells made by Qcells in June. A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection couldn’t immediately answer questions about Qcells on Friday.

Qcells says none of its materials or components are made with forced labor or even come from China. Spokesperson Marta Stoepker said the company maintains “robust supply chain due diligence measures” and “very detailed documentation,” which has been successful in getting some shipments released.

“Our latest supply chain is sourced completely outside of China and our legacy supply chains contain no material from Xinjiang province based on third party audits and supplier guarantees,” Stoepker said.

She said Qcells is continuing to cooperate and expects to resume full production in the coming weeks and months.

“Although our supply chain operations are beginning to normalize, today we shared with our employees that HR actions must be taken to improve operational efficiency until production capacity returns to normal levels,” Stoepker said in a statement.

Qcells has said it pays workers an average of about $53,000 a year. Workers will retain full benefits during furloughs.

Qcells is completing a $2.3 billion plant in Cartersville that will let it take polysilicon refined in Washington state and make ingots, wafers and solar cells — the building blocks of finished solar modules. That will allow it to reduce imports of solar modules. The company has said it will finish the plant even though President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress dismantled most of the tax credits for buying solar panels earlier this year.

“Our commitment to building the entire solar supply chain in the United States remains,” Stoepker said. “We will soon be back on track with the full force of our Georgia team delivering American-made energy to communities around the country.”

By MATTHEW LEE and DAVID KLEPPER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mexican authorities with assistance from the United States and Israeli intelligence agencies thwarted an alleged plot by Iran to assassinate the Israeli ambassador to Mexico, Israeli and U.S. officials said Friday. Mexican authorities denied any knowledge of such a plot.

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The plot to kill Ambassador Einat Kranz Neiger is alleged to have been hatched at the end of last year and remained active through the middle of this year, when it was disrupted, the U.S. officials said.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the intelligence, said the plot was “contained” and does not pose a current threat.

They did not offer details on how the plot was discovered or broken up. Iran’s mission to the U.N. said it had no comment.

“We thank the security and law enforcement services in Mexico for thwarting a terrorist network directed by Iran that sought to attack Israel’s ambassador in Mexico,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The Israeli security and intelligence community will continue to work tirelessly, in full cooperation with security and intelligence agencies around the world, to thwart terrorist threats from Iran and its proxies against Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide.”

Mexico’s foreign relations and security ministries issued a brief joint statement late Friday saying that “they have no report with respect to a supposed attempt against the ambassador of Israel in Mexico.”

The foreign ministry “reiterates its willingness to maintain fluid communication with all accredited diplomatic representations in our country,” the statement said. The security ministry “reaffirms its respectful and coordinated collaboration, always within the framework of national sovereignty, with all security agencies that request it.”

The State Department had no immediate explanation for Mexico’s statement. It said, “Iran’s international abhorrent plots, aimed at its own citizens, Americans, and citizens of other nations are inconsistent with the behavior of a civilized state.”

“The United States is working with likeminded governments to share best practices and threat information, raise awareness about the issue of Iran’s lethal plots, work together to counter these threats, and hold perpetrators accountable,” the department said.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Mexico said in response to the Mexican authorities’ statement that it would not have any comment.

According to intelligence documents from one of the U.S. officials, an officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps named Hasan Izadi, who also goes by the name Masood Rahnema, initiated the plot along with other Iranian officials while serving as an aide to Iran’s ambassador to Venezuela.

The United States has long accused Iran of seeking to assassinate current and former U.S. officials as well as Israelis, including on U.S. soil.

AP writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations and Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City contributed to this report.