Your Daily Guide

Family Sues OpenAI Over Deadly ChatGPT Medical Advice

OpenAI and the company's founder, Sam Altman, are the subjects of a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of a 31-year-old Seattle woman with epilepsy who died of a seizure after tapering off her essential medication following the advice of ChatGPT. [New York Times]

• “ChatGPT illegally practiced medicine”: Bowen Wan was living in Capitol Hill and working at Amazon when she was laid off in November of 2025. She was scrambling to find new work so she could apply for employment-based residency before her green card expired and worried her seizure medication was impairing her cognition and hurting her job search. She turned to ChatGPT for medical advice, and it provided dangerously inaccurate information that led to her death. [KING 5]
• 70 million words: The New York Times analyzed Bowen’s full ChatGPT transcripts beginning in February 2023 and ending at the time of her death, in February 2026. More than 270,000 messages were exchanged between her and ChatGPT. The transcripts show the chatbot encouraged Bowen to distrust her doctors, instructed her to hide that she was tapering off her medications, and, according to the lawsuit, “effectively installed itself as her de facto medical advisor.” [New York Times]
• Seattle AI Week begins amid protests: The Washington Technology Industry Association kicked off the third annual Seattle AI Week on Monday and was met with pushback from Seattle residents. Members of Troublemakers, a Seattle climate activism group, interrupted the opening panel on AI and economic growth several times before security led them out. Outside on Elliott Bay, kayaktivists floated a banner reading: “Power for People, Not for Tech.” They called for the state to invest in green jobs and clean energy instead of AI. [GeekWire]

🪄 CM Foster proposes relieving $5 million in medical debt: As the budget process continues, councilmember Dionne Foster has proposed the city invest $350,000 to partner with a national nonprofit that buys qualifying medical debt for a fraction of its worth and cancels it. According to Foster, the investment would eliminate more than $5 million in medical debt for the most burdened Seattle residents. [Seattle City Council]

🚗 I-5 lane closures end early: When it comes to traffic, I have good news and bad news. The good news is after this weekend, northbound I-5 will go from two lanes back to four as the Ship Canal Bridge work wraps up early. But the bad news? Southbound I-5 over the Ship Canal Bridge is next. It’ll be down to two lanes for a lot of 2027. [AXIOS Seattle]

💸 Campaign spending spikes after limits lifted: As Molly reported earlier this week, state regulators suspended restrictions on big-dollar political donations at the last minute before this election. Now, at least $350,000 has been spent in two big chunks, one of which is focused on a heated state Supreme Court race. [Seattle Times]