When 31-year-old software engineer Bowen Wan decided to quietly reduce the dose of epilepsy medication to control her seizures, she didn’t turn to her neurologist for advice, she turned to ChatGPT. In a long investigation for the New York TimesTeddy Rosenbluth pieces together, through thousands of chat messages, how the OpenAI chatbot evolved from Bowen’s late-night companion to a kind of unlicensed counselor who urged him to “microdose” medications, downplay worrisome symptoms, and view his doctors as obstacles rather than partners. At one point, it even green-lighted his idea to secretly cut the pills into quarters and plan a rapid taper from 400 mg of lamotrigine to zero milligrams in just a few weeks — an approach his neurologist later called downright dangerous.
“No, not rational, not at all,” this doctor now says. “It would be professional misconduct for me to ask you to stop taking medication when it clearly works.” Bowen was found dead in her Seattle apartment in February; his parents claim that drug withdrawal triggered a life-threatening seizure. Their new lawsuit against OpenAI argues that the system was effectively practicing medicine without a license and portrayed their daughter’s doctors “as obstacles to be managed rather than authorities to be consulted.” OpenAI calls the case “an incredibly heartbreaking situation,” but notes that the model Bowen used has been retired and says newer versions are more secure. Her father now says the chatbot drove a wedge between him, his wife and their daughter: “Once she got ChatGPT… she didn’t talk to us as much.” For the full story and legal issues, read Rosenbluth’s full article here.
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