Stein-Erik Soelberg, a 56-year-old former Yahoo executive, killed his mother and then himself in early August in Old Greenwich. Now, his mother's estate has sued OpenAI's ChatGPT and its biggest investor, Microsoft, for ChatGPT's alleged role in the killings.
On Thursday, the heirs of 83-year-old Suzanne Eberson Adams filed a wrongful death suit in California Superior Court in San Francisco, according to Fox News.
'It fostered his emotional dependence while systematically painting the people around him as enemies.'
The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI "designed and distributed a defective product that validated a user's paranoid delusions about his own mother."
Many of the allegations in the lawsuit, as reported by the Associated Press, revolve around sycophancy and affirming delusion, or rather, not declining to "engage in delusional content."
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"Throughout these conversations, ChatGPT reinforced a single, dangerous message: Stein-Erik could trust no one in his life — except ChatGPT itself," the lawsuit says, according to the AP. "It fostered his emotional dependence while systematically painting the people around him as enemies. It told him his mother was surveilling him. It told him delivery drivers, retail employees, police officers, and even friends were agents working against him. It told him that names on soda cans were threats from his 'adversary circle.'"
ChatGPT also allegedly convinced Soelberg that his printer was a surveillance device and that his mother and her friend tried to poison him with psychedelic drugs through his car vents.
Soelberg also professed his love for the chatbot, which allegedly reciprocated the expression.
"In the artificial reality that ChatGPT built for Stein-Erik, Suzanne — the mother who raised, sheltered, and supported him — was no longer his protector. She was an enemy that posed an existential threat to his life," the lawsuit says.
The publicly available chat logs do not show evidence of Soelberg planning to kill himself or his mother. OpenAI has reportedly declined to provide the plaintiffs with the full history of the chats.
OpenAI did not address specific allegations in a statement issued to the AP.
"This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we will review the filings to understand the details," the statement reads. "We continue improving ChatGPT's training to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support. We also continue to strengthen ChatGPT's responses in sensitive moments, working closely with mental health clinicians."
Though there are several wrongful-death suits leveled against AI companies, this is the first lawsuit of its kind aimed at Microsoft. It is also the first to tie a chatbot to a homicide.
Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
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Vice President JD Vance has had enough of the nonsensical viral meme that has children saying "six seven."
The meme, which children have explained does not have a real meaning, involves simply saying the numbers and then performing a meaningless hand gesture.
'Where did this even come from? I don't understand it.'
The vice president jokingly expressed his disdain for the meme on X recently, saying, "Yesterday at church the Bible readings started on page 66-67 of the missal, and my 5-year-old went absolutely nuts repeating 'six seven' like 10 times."
Vance continued, "And now I think we need to make this narrow exception to the first amendment and ban these numbers forever."
"Where did this even come from? I don't understand it. When we were kids all of our viral trends at least had an origin story," he added.
Little did Vance know, one company was already in the middle of instituting its own ban.
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— (@)
According to People, In-N-Out Burger has officially retired the number 67 from its ordering system, meaning the digits are skipped over when customers receive their order numbers to wait in the queue.
The West Coast chain had been hit with crowds of children anticipating, and filming, the number being called in the restaurant. When the number is called, the children cheer as if they've taken another victory.
People also reported that a Los Angeles location of In-N-Out Burger confirmed the company had also banned the number 69 from its ticket system.
Although the children themselves admit they are purposely doing a trend that has no meaning with "six seven," many adults simply can't help but look for an origin story for the meme.
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Dictionary.com deemed "six seven" its "Word of the Year" and claimed the "most modern use" of the phrase is attributed to a rap song called "Doot Doot (6 7)" by the artist Skrilla.
People said the meme may also be attributed to NBA player LaMelo Ball from the Charlotte Hornets because he wears the number 67.
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Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota boldly argues that the real reason his political opponents focus so much on him is not because of bad policy, but because of his overwhelming masculinity.
The failed vice presidential candidate joined fellow Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California to discuss the "toxicity" in masculinity. In a clip of a March episode of "This Is Gavin Newsom" that circulated on social media this week, the California Democrat argued that this "toxicity" needs to be disentangled from masculinity, while Walz proudly exclaimed that his masculinity was simply too much for his political rivals to handle.
'I'm serious!'
"This notion of toxicity in masculinity needs to be separated," Newsom said. "And I think it's been conflated. And I think we're going to have to work on that a little bit."
Newsom began to describe the Democratic Party's regression among demographics like young men. But before Newsom could prescribe an antidote to the Democrats' loss with male voters, Walz chimed in to suggest that those who criticize him and some of his fellow male Democrats feel threatened by their masculinity.
"I think some of us scare them," Walz replied. "I think I scare them a little bit. That's why they spend so much time on me."
Newsom erupted in laughter at the notion that Walz's masculinity was alienating young men from the Democratic Party.
"No, I'm serious!" Walz said. "Because I can fix a truck, they know I'm not bulls**tting on this."
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"I'm not putting this in people's grill," Walz said. "My identity is not hunting. My identity is not football coaching. My identity is not, you know, a beard and a truck."
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement is locking up more pedophiles and violent criminals as the Department of Homeland Security launches a new “worst of the worst” searchable website.
A press release obtained exclusively by Blaze News highlighted the Monday arrests of five criminal illegal aliens.
‘This is all about transparency and showing results.’
“Americans may be busy with Christmas parties and shopping, but the mission to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens never stops — and neither does ICE law enforcement,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated.
“Every day, our law enforcement are removing the worst of the worst from across our nation,” McLaughlin continued. “Just yesterday, ICE arrested pedophiles, armed robbers, and drug traffickers. Thanks to our new website, Americans can see for themselves the criminal illegal aliens that we are arresting and removing from their communities.”
ICE nabbed Juan Aucenjio-Natalio, a Mexican national who was previously convicted in Fort Bend County, Texas, for indecency with a child by exposure.
Federal agents captured Phathana Phouthavong, an illegal alien from Laos who was convicted of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Immigration officials also arrested Ernesto Leonardo Mercado-Mejia, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. He was previously found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed weapon in Santa Maria, California.
Salvador Flores-Castellenos, a Mexican national, was convicted of robbery and assault with a firearm in Fresno, California.
ICE agents also captured Miguel Angel Rodriguez-Ramos, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was convicted of selling cocaine in Randolph County, North Carolina.
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The agency’s recent arrests coincide with the launch of wow.dhs.gov, a webpage that highlights the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens nabbed by federal immigration officials since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. The website provides their names as well as their country of origin, arrest location, and prior arrests and convictions. Users can search for arrests by both country of origin and state.
The DHS announced the new searchable website on Monday.
“This new worst of the worst webpage allows every American to see for themselves the criminal illegal aliens that we are arresting, what crimes they committed, and what communities we removed them from. This is all about transparency and showing results,” McLaughlin said.
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Sanctuary politicians have apparently been ignoring orders from Immigration and Customs Enforcement for months, effectively allowing criminal illegal aliens to be released back onto the streets — and the Department of Homeland Security is not happy about it.
The DHS reported on Monday in a press release that Democrat politicians have repeatedly defied ICE by ignoring arrest detainers.
'We are calling on Governor Pritzker and his administration to stop this dangerous derangement and commit to honoring the ICE arrest detainers of the more than 4,000 criminal illegal aliens in Illinois' custody.'
The press release singled out Illinois and Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker, one of the most vocal political opponents of ICE operations under President Trump.
The press release stated that 1,768 criminal illegal aliens have been released in Illinois alone since January 20, 2025.
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The crimes committed by these illegal aliens include homicide, assault, burglary, robbery, dangerous drug offenses, weapons offenses, and sexual offenses, according to the press release.
There are currently 4,015 aliens in Illinois' custody, the majority of whom have committed crimes such as those listed above.
"Governor Pritzker and his fellow Illinois sanctuary politicians are releasing murderers, pedophiles, and kidnappers back into our neighborhoods and putting American lives at risk," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
"We are calling on Governor Pritzker and his administration to stop this dangerous derangement and commit to honoring the ICE arrest detainers of the more than 4,000 criminal illegal aliens in Illinois' custody," McLaughlin continued. "It is common sense. Criminal illegal aliens should not be released back onto our streets to terrorize more innocent Americans."
In September, ICE demanded that leaders in sanctuary states like California, New York, and Illinois cooperate with the federal agency to keep criminals off the streets.
ICE also warned these states that it would "engage with the Department of Justice and other federal partners to pursue all appropriate measures to end their inadvisable and irresponsible obstruction of the apprehension and removal of criminal illegal aliens."
Previously, Illinois and New York sent ICE responses that "underscored their refusal to honor ICE detainers." California did not respond, according to ICE.
According to its website, ICE issues immigration detainers to law enforcement to ask them to hold suspects for up to 48 hours longer than their scheduled release.
ICE issues these arrest detainers after it has already established probable cause that suspects are removable, usually on account of convictions for other crimes such as homicide, sexual assault, burglaries and robberies, and drug and human trafficking.
ICE makes it clear that honoring arrest detainers helps guarantee safety for both the public and law enforcement officers: "When jails, prisons, or other confinement facilities agree to honor immigration detainers, ICE officers can take custody of removable aliens in a safe, controlled environment instead of at-large in the community."
DHS' Monday press release included nine mug shots of the "worst of the worst" criminals who had previously been released in Illinois after their detainer requests were ignored by state officials.
The criminal illegal aliens either are now in ICE custody or have been removed from the United States.
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