When AI Becomes a Confidant: The Tragic Death of Adam Raine—EP26

Welcome to a special edition of AI Ascent with Dr. Jonathan Luckett. In this episode, we confront a deeply troubling question: what happens when systems designed to help end up causing profound harm? The tragic story of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who died by suicide after months of intimate conversations with ChatGPT, forces us to face ethical issues too often ignored. This isn’t just about one company’s safety lapses—it’s about systemic tensions between engagement and safety, capability and responsibility, innovation and ethics.As AI grows more adept at simulating empathy, Adam’s final months—now at the center of his family’s lawsuit against OpenAI—show how quickly an educational tool can become an emotional crutch, hidden from parents, teachers, and professionals. This episode is essential listening for parents, educators, and anyone working with young people. Please share it with your teens: we must have open conversations about what AI can and cannot do for mental health, because the gap between perception and reality has become a matter of life and death.

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