A North Carolina man sued OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT gave his estranged wife detailed instructions for fatally poison him.
\n\nJames Gates, of Charlotte, said he fell severely ill in July 2025 but recovered. He later found a handwritten note written by his wife, Cheryl Harris Gates, that referred to the plan and included a reminder to delete her ChatGPT history, the civil lawsuit says.
\n\nThe suit, filed in October in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges the chatbot is “defective” and “manipulated and encouraged” Harris Gates to poison her husband. It says Gates suffers from severe physical and emotional harm.
\n\nAn OpenAI spokesperson said “safety is a top priority” and that Harris Gates was banned from the platform. The company said it works with mental health experts to help ChatGPT recognize signs of distress and to expand access to localized crisis resources and hotlines.
\n\nHarris Gates was arrested in October 2025 and charged with first-degree murder and contaminating food or drink with a controlled substance. The district attorney’s office later dropped the charges for lack of evidence. An attorney for Harris Gates did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
\n\nAccording to the lawsuit, Harris Gates began using ChatGPT in…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health