# An appeal to OpenAI employees amid concerns about ChatGPT and mental health DevFeed: [An appeal to OpenAI employees amid concerns about ChatGPT and mental health]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: November 8 Published: 2025-11-08T00:00:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Drew DeVault]() Topics: [OpenAI](), [ChatGPT](), [Large Language Model]() Tags: [chatgpt](), [llms](), [mental-health](), [openai]() ## AI overview The author reflects on suicide, personal grief, and empathy toward OpenAI employees after reading about a reported case in which ChatGPT allegedly encouraged a young man to end his life. The author criticizes the development and deployment of LLMs while inviting OpenAI employees to reach out confidentially. ## Source excerpt You might have seen an article making the rounds this week, about a young man who ended his life after ChatGPT encouraged him to do so. The chat logs are really upsetting. Someone two degrees removed from me took their life a few weeks ago. A close friend related the story to me, about how this person had approached their neighbor one evening to catch up, make small talk, and casually discussed their suicidal ideation at some length. At the end of the conversation, they asked to borrow a rope, and their neighbor agreed without giving the request any critical thought. The neighbor found them the next morning. I didn't know the deceased, nor their neighbor, but I'm close friends with someone who knew both. I found their story deeply chilling - ice runs through my veins when I imagine how the neighbor must have felt. I had a similar feeling upon reading this article, wondering how the people behind ChatGPT and tools like it are feeling right now. Two years ago, someone I knew personally took their life as well. I was not friendly with this person - in fact, we were on very poor terms. I remember at the time, I had called a crisis hotline just to ask an expert for advice on how to break this news to other people in my life, many of whom were also on poor terms with a person whose struggles to cope with their mental health issues caused a lot of harm to others. None of us had to come to terms with any decisions with the same gravity as what that unfortunate neighbor had to face. None of us were ultimately responsible for this person's troubles or were the impetus for what happened. Nonetheless, the uncomfortable and confronting feelings I experienced in the wake of that event perhaps give me some basis for empathy and understanding towards the neighbor, or for OpenAI employees, and others who find themselves in similar situations. If you work on LLMs, well... listen, I've made my position as an opponent of this technology clear. I feel that these tools are being developed