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A teen was suicidal. ChatGPT was the friend he confided in

(www.nytimes.com)
443 points jaredwiener | 3 comments | 26 Aug 25 14:15 UTC | HN request time: 0.749s | source
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TillE ◴[26 Aug 25 17:19 UTC] No.45029541[source]▶
I would've thought that explicit discussion of suicide is one of those topics that chatbots will absolutely refuse to engage with. Like as soon as people started talking about using LLMs as therapists, it's really easy to see how that can go wrong.
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techpineapple ◴[26 Aug 25 19:24 UTC] No.45031044[source]▶
Apparently ChatGPT told the kid, that it wasn’t allowed to talk about suicide unless it was for the purposes of writing fiction or otherwise world building.
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1. myvoiceismypass ◴[27 Aug 25 01:36 UTC] No.45034474[source]▶
Imagine if a bartender says “I can’t serve you a drink unless you are over 21.. what would you like?” to a 12 year old?
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2. techpineapple ◴[27 Aug 25 01:52 UTC] No.45034603[source]▶
More like “I can’t serve you a drink unless you are over 21… and I don’t check ID, how old are you?”
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3. ascorbic ◴[27 Aug 25 06:26 UTC] No.45036069[source]▶
And in reply to a 12 year old who had just said they were 12.