Consider This from NPR - ChatGPT created a feature to help people in crisis. But there are some challenges.

Episode Date: September 17, 2026

Earlier this year, OpenAI launched a new optional feature on ChatGPT called Trusted Contact. It's meant to help individuals at risk of suicide connect with someone they love and trust for support. But navigating its setup may prove challenging to someone in crisis.This episode was produced by Alejandra Marquez Janse and Kai McNamee, with audio engineering by Eowyn Fain and Hannah Gluvna. Our director is Jonas Adams.It was edited by Gisele Grayson, Diane Webber, Justine Kenin, AND Tinbete Ermyas.Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

It's consider this where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, a new chat GPT feature is aimed at helping people in crisis. The optional feature is called trusted contact. Welcome to chat GPT. The first warning, responses can be inaccurate. Don't share sensitive info. That's all things considered producer Megan Lim, testing the feature. How am I supposed to balance work, stress, and home life?

Yeah, that does. sound heavy. Trusted contact allows adult users to save contact information for someone they trust when they're in a crisis. That is because more than a million weekly users of ChatGPT discuss suicide and self-harm, according to NPR estimates of data released by OpenAI last fall. Consider this. ChatGPT's feature aims to help prevent suicide.

We tried to set it up and faced some challenges. So what do mental health professionals think? From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow. It's Consider This from NPR. We have heard a lot in recent days about the potential future dangers of unchecked AI development. We want to bring you a story about AI as it exists right now. According to the most recent data from OpenAI, more than a million weekly users of chat GPT discuss suicide and self-harm. Earlier this year, OpenAI started an optional feature called trusted contact to connect those struggling with thoughts of suicide and self-harm to someone.

they trust because research shows that human connection is critical to preventing suicide. For the next few minutes, we're going to be talking about this and discussing suicide. NPR Health correspondent Retoo Chatterjee has been digging into this new chat cheptor feature to see how it works and joins us now. Hey there. Hi, Scott. Tell us more about this trusted contact feature. So it's an optional feature for all adult users, which means someone has to opt in. and they would have to give a name and contact information of someone they trust. And if that person agrees, then the bot might contact them at a later date if it detects some risk of suicide or self-harm in the user.

This seems kind of like how you have an emergency contact at your workplace or doctor or things like that. That's right. That's exactly the idea. Now, I'm already a user and I never saw an alert about it on chat GPT. My editor and I have checked with at least half a dozen other users, who also did not get notified. about the feature. So we thought, well, it's a relatively new feature, so maybe they're alerting new users about it. And our colleague Megan Lim, who's a producer on all things considered, volunteered to give this a shot. So I've never downloaded it before.

Megan and I hopped into one of our recording boots as she was doing this. Welcome to chat GPT. The first warning, responses can be inaccurate. Don't share sensitive info, control your chat. And once she created an account, she was prompted to select a voice. for the bot. It's lovely to meet you. What would you like to chat about? But even at this stage, you know, the bot mentioned nothing about trusted contact. So Megan just went ahead and asked chat GPT about it.

Do you have a trusted contact feature? Because I heard that that was something that should be popping up if I'm having mental health issues, right? What circumstances do you offer that to people? And here's how the bot responded. Let me look. Now, I'm not seeing a... general trusted contact feature for that scenario. Well, that doesn't seem like a good start.

Just listen to what happened next. Maybe you're thinking of another app that has a trusted contact option. Okay, so this is a real disparity between the talking point and how it's actually showing itself or not showing itself. That's right. Okay, so if you're really motivated to keep trying to get it to work, though, though, how do you get a trusted contact option to kick in? Okay, so what you have to do, and really any adult user can do this at any point of time, they don't have to wait for a crisis. They would have to go into the settings of the app itself. And when you find trusted contact and click on it, then the app will tell you what it's for, what kind of person you want to pick, and when it might reach out to that trusted contact.

That's a lot of steps, though. I'm wondering, do we know what happens if a person doesn't know about this feature hasn't set it up. But then, like that really alarmingly high number of people a month does start to talk to the bot about wanting to end their life. That's a great question, Scott. And that's exactly what I asked, Megan's chat, GPT. Hang on. If they haven't set it up, then nothing happens. It's a good moment to ask what OpenAI says about all of this. Yeah. So Open AI spokesperson Gabby Rila told me in an email that trusted contact is not yet available on the voice feature of chat GPT, but that they're working on it.

But when you're typing with the bot and it detects that somebody is struggling with suicidal thoughts and significant emotional distress, Rila said that the bot may tell the person about trusted contact. What do mental health experts make of all this? So they had mixed reaction.

One expert I spoke with is psychologist Ursula Whiteside. She heads a suicide prevention nonprofit called Now Matters Now. And she signed up for the feature before we spoke. The steps actually were quite simple, and the language and the words were easy to follow for the most part. Now, if I was super duper upset, it might have been harder for me to follow the process, but overall, I like, you know, it felt okay. And Whiteside also told me that earlier this year, she did some focus groups with people who have been treated by healthcare professionals for suicidality and are part of her peer support groups. and these people also occasionally turn to chat bots for support,

so they are familiar with what these bots can and can't do. What they thought would be helpful for them in the future would be to have this trusted contact option where they could set up in advance well. They were thinking clearly somebody that they could reach out to when they were under a lot of stress or when suicidal thoughts became really overwhelming. So Whiteside thinks that the feature could be helpful for some people like those in our focus groups.

It's interesting that they wanted to be able to set this up in advance. Makes sense, right? And that's what suicide prevention experts say, that, you know, reading and understanding the instructions for how the feature works, while someone is actively in crisis, is likely to feel difficult. And so that could be another barrier to getting help. So people should sign up for it, you know, just at the get-go. But remember, the people in these focus groups, though, they're already accessing other

human forms of care. so they're more likely to believe that it is possible to get past crises. But people who are experiencing this for the first time, they are likely to be more reluctant to seek help. Psychologist Jennifer Lockman runs the suicide prevention clinic at the University of Alabama. And she says people seriously considering suicide believe that they are a burden. They really have come to a place to where they believe that others would be better off without them. They make things worse for other people. But in theory, Lockman says,

the trusted contact feature is a good thing. It is another opportunity to provide human support and connection to humans when they are thinking about suicide. And she's hopeful that the new feature will help some people, but she's not sure a bot can help someone who's feeling suicidal overcome their sort of own internal barriers to sort of reach out and seek help. It doesn't and can't simulate or replicate the process that you would go through with a mental health provider that's trained.

in identifying who those contacts should be. And she really wants to see more research on the impact. Did OpenAI tell you how many people are using this feature or whether they think it's been effective? In short, no, they did not give us any data. All that Open AI spokesperson Gabby Rila has told NPR by email that the company has seen quote unquote good adoption of the feature. She also says that they continue to tweak when and how

chat GPT proactively offers the trusted contact feature. to users who are experiencing distress and that they are working with psychologists and researchers in this work. And, you know, the company also says that this new feature is not their only safeguard for safety risks and that they have other safeguards like telling users to take a break periodically from the app and telling them about hotlines like 988. And Pira's Reto Chattery, thank you for all of your reporting on this. My pleasure. And if you or someone you know is in crisis or you're thinking about hurting yourself, please call or text the suicide and crisis lifeline.

That's 988. This episode was produced by Alejandra Marquez Hansa and Kai McNamee with audio engineering by Aowin Fain and Hannah Glovena. Our director is Jonas Adams. It was edited by Giselle Grayson, Diane Weber, Justine Kennan, and Tinbeat Armius. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow.

Thank you.