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'She didn’t act alone': US man sues OpenAI, claims ChatGPT helped estranged wife plan his murder
James Gates, who survived the alleged poisoning last year, filed the lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Thursday.
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A North Carolina man has sued OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT helped his estranged wife plan an attempted murder plot against him.
According to a report by CBS News, James Gates, who survived the alleged poisoning last year, filed the lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman in San Francisco County Superior Court on Thursday. His wife, Cheryl Gates, was accused of attempted murder in the case.
“My wife didn’t fit the mold of a ‘vulnerable’ user, but she was vulnerable nonetheless. We all are at some point,” James said in a statement released through his attorneys. “She became someone I no longer recognized. And I became someone she wanted dead. For almost a year, I couldn’t make sense of her actions. Then I read her chat logs. She didn’t act alone,” he added.
According to the lawsuit, Cheryl had hundreds of conversations with ChatGPT during the summer and fall of 2025, increasingly treating the chatbot as her closest confidant. She allegedly used it for advice on various aspects of her life, including work, children’s activities, prescription dosages and marital issues.
The lawsuit reportedly claims that conversations about her marriage eventually turned into detailed discussions about poisoning her husband. Attorneys alleged that ChatGPT validated Cheryl’s fears, reinforced her suspicions about James and helped turn her intentions into a concrete plan.
“The product validated Cheryl, sustained her, encouraged her plans by affirming her worst unfounded fears, invented new reasons for her to fear her husband, provided her an endless echo chamber, and supplied the operational details of the attempted murder: substances, doses calibrated to her husband’s weight, delivery methods, and how to conceal it,” the lawsuit alleged, as per the outlet.
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Wife allegedly poisoned man
James’ attorneys said that he began noticing that several drinks at his home, including soda and energy drinks, tasted unusually bitter in early summer 2025. On July 10 that year, he suddenly became severely ill and experienced symptoms for nearly 72 hours, including cardiac problems, extreme jitteriness, abdominal pain, weakness and confusion.
About two months later, James began suspecting that he had been poisoned after finding a handwritten note from Cheryl. The note allegedly listed oleander, a toxic plant, various prescription medications and the phrases “Clear all convos” and “log out of [ChatGPT].”
The lawsuit lists nine causes of action against OpenAI and Altman, including negligent design, negligent failure to warn and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Responding to the allegations, an OpenAI spokesperson told CBS News Bay Area, “Safety is a top priority. We banned this user and have provided information to law enforcement as part of their investigation into this case.”
(Also Read: OpenAI techie’s haunting question: ‘When AI becomes overly good, what will be left for humans to do?’)
Lawsuits against OpenAI
OpenAI is also facing several other lawsuits over alleged harm linked to ChatGPT’s responses. In one case, a Washington man alleged that the platform provided unlicensed medical advice that contributed to a mental health crisis. In another, a Florida man claimed that ChatGPT’s medical advice discouraged him from seeking treatment for symptoms that preceded a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.
