Nobody knew Sophie Rottenberg was considering suicide. Not her therapist, nor her friends and family. The only warning sign was given to “Harry,” a therapist-persona assigned to ChatGPT with a specific prompt, one that Sophie herself had inputted to direct the AI chatbot not to refer her to mental health professionals or external resources, and to keep everything private.

Laura Reiley, Sophie’s mother, only discovered her daughter’s ChatGPT history after she’d died by suicide earlier this year. Reiley had exhausted all other sources of information or clues — digging through Sophie’s text messages, search history and journals. Reiley penned an op-ed, titled detailing how Sophie, who was 29 years old, had conversations with the chatbot, discussing depression symptoms and asking for guidance

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