A North Carolina man is suing OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT aided his estranged wife in an attempted murder plot against him.
On Thursday, Tech Justice Law and the firm Norman, Judkins & Couch filed the lawsuit in San Francisco County Superior Court on behalf of James Gates, who survived being poisoned last year. James’ 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,” Gates said in a statement 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.”
According to the lawsuit, Cheryl Gates engaged in hundreds of conversations with ChatGPT in the summer and fall of 2025.
“She came to treat the product as her closest confidant, on which she relied for advice and help in most areas of her life. Cheryl used it for everything from work-related tasks to planning her children’s activities, asking for prescription dosages and advice on marital issues,” the lawsuit claims.
Attorneys for James Gates said when Cheryl expressed frustrations about her marriage, her conversations with the chatbot turned into “concrete planning” on how to poison her husband.
“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,” according to the lawsuit.
In early summer 2025, James began noticing multiple drinks in his home, including soda and energy drinks, tasted unusually bitter, attorneys said. On July 10, 2025, the lawsuit says James became suddenly and violently ill for about 72 hours, suffering cardiac symptoms, extreme jitteriness, abdominal pain, severe weakness and confusion, among other symptoms.
About two months later, James began to suspect he may have been poisoned when he found a handwritten note from Cheryl. The note allegedly listed oleander, a toxic plant, various prescriptions and the words “Clear all convos” and “log out of [ChatGPT].”
The lawsuit brings nine causes of action against OpenAI and CEO Sam Atlman, alleging negligent design, negligent failure to warn and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In a statement to CBS News Bay Area, an OpenAI spokesperson said, “Safety is a top priority. We banned this user and have provided information to law enforcement as part of their investigation into this case.”
OpenAI is facing several other lawsuits, including a lawsuit from a Washington man who alleged the platform gave him unlicensed medical advice, leading to a mental health crisis. A Florida man has also filed suit, alleging ChatGPT’s medical advice discouraged him from seeking treatment for symptoms that preceded a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.