OpenAI and its largest financial backer, Microsoft, have been sued in California state court over claims that ChatGPT, OpenAI's popular chatbot, encouraged a man with mental illnesses to kill his mother and himself. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, said that ChatGPT fuelled 56-year-old Stein-Erik Soelberg's delusions of a vast conspiracy against him, and eventually led him to murder his 83-year-old mother, Suzanne Adams, in Connecticut in August. The case, filed by Adams's estate, is among a small but growing number of lawsuits filed against artificial intelligence companies claiming that their chatbots encouraged suicide. It is the first wrongful death litigation involving an AI chatbot that has targeted Microsoft, and the first to tie a chatbot to a homicide rather than a suicide. It is seeking an undetermined amount of money damages and an order requiring OpenAI to install safeguards in ChatGPT.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper .

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper .

It's no accident the company picked a partner it could control. This morning Disney and OpenAI announced a three-year licensing agreement: Starting in 2026, ChatGPT and Sora can generate images and videos incorporating Disney IP, including more than 200 characters from the company's stable of Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel brands. To say these companies make for strange bedfellows is an understatement. Before OpenAI released Sora, the company reportedly notified studios and talent agencies they would need to opt out of having their work appear in the new app. The law effectively froze the advancement of the public domain in the United States, with Disney being the greatest beneficiary. On the face of it, it's unclear OpenAI is getting much value out of the deal.

It's rude to boast, but here in 2025, you've got to take the wins where you can get them. This morning, magazine announced its Person of the Year, and it's me. If you want to get all technical about it, 's Person of the Year is not a person at all but a collection of people: the architects of AI. One of the two covers released is a re-creation of the "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper" photograph from 1932, which depicted blue-collar ironworkers suspended hundreds of feet in the air during the construction of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. In its image, replaces these laborers with tech personalities such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Jensen Huang.

'47 Ronin' director found guilty of defrauding Netflix out of $11 million Carl Rinsch faces up to 90 years in prison. A director who was charged with defrauding Netflix out of millions of dollars has been found guilty, reports . Carl Rinsch, director of the 2013 Keanu Reeves movie, now faces up to 90 years in prison. Rinsch began filming the project, (later renamed), around 2017. (Its premise: A scientist creates an organic humanoid species that turns on its creators.) The director completed six short-form episodes with his own money and investor funds.

A bill focused on how someone's name or likeness can be used after their death was also passed. New York is taking steps to regulate the use of AI in the state's entertainment industry. NY State Governor Kathy Hochul passed two pieces of legislation on Thursday that forces certain productions to disclose the use of AI-generated performers, and defines rules around how someone's likeness can be used after their death. Assembly Bill A8887B, now known as S.8420-A, specifically covers the use of AI performers in advertisements. Per Hochul's announcement, the law requires persons who produce or create an advertisement to identify if it includes AI generated synthetic performers.

Lawsuit accuses ChatGPT of reinforcing delusions that led to a woman's death Stein-Erik Soelberg killed his mother and took his own life back in August. OpenAI has been hit with a wrongful death lawsuit after a man back in August, . The suit names CEO Sam Altman and accuses ChatGPT of putting a target on the back of victim Suzanne Adams, an 83-year-old woman who was killed in her home. The victim's estate, 56-year-old Stein-Erik Soelberg, engaged in delusion-soaked conversations with ChatGPT in which the bot validated and magnified certain paranoid beliefs. The suit goes on to suggest that the chatbot eagerly accepted delusional thoughts leading up to the murder and egged him on every step of the way.

Disney and OpenAI have made a surprise deal - what happens next? Disney's famous Mickey Mouse character will soon be available for use in AI-generated videos The world's best-known AI company and the world's best-known entertainment firm have come to a surprise agreement to allow AI versions of some of the most iconic characters in film, TV and cartoons to be used in generative AI videos and images. Social media is dead - here's what comes next The Walt Disney Company has signed a deal with OpenAI that will allow the AI firm's Sora video generation tool and ChatGPT image creator to use more than 200 of Disney's most iconic characters. Meanwhile, Disney remains in dispute with another AI firm, Midjourney, over alleged infringement of their intellectual property (IP), claiming Midjourney aims to "blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters" into their image generating tool. The characters now deemed fair game for OpenAI users include the likes of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Simba and Mufasa from and Moana, as well as Marvel and Lucasfilm characters, including some of's most well-known names.

Disney is hedging against the future. OpenAI is clearing a path for Sora. And together they've made a blueprint for how AI and Hollywood can move forward. On Thursday, Disney and OpenAI announced a deal that might have seemed unthinkable not so long ago. Starting next year, OpenAI will be able to use Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Ariel, and Yoda in its Sora video-generation model .