South Africa, Jan. 22 -- He described recent cases as "pretty horrific" in his interview with CNBC.

"This year, you really saw something pretty horrific, which is these AI models became suicide coaches," Benioff told CNBC's Sarah Eisen during a panel discussion titled Where Can New Growth Come From?" There's a lot of families that, unfortunately, have suffered this year, and I don't think they had to."

The CEO's comments come as multiple lawsuits have been filed against AI companies alleging their chatbots contributed to teenage suicides and self-harm incidents.

According to the AI Companion Mortality Database, at least 12 deaths have been documented between March 2023 and November 2025 in cases where AI chatbot interactions played a r...