Stalking victim sues OpenAI, claims ChatGPT fueled her abuser’s delusions and ignored her warnings - BERITAJA

After months of conversations pinch ChatGPT,  a 53-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur became convinced he’d discovered a cure for slumber apnea and that powerful group were coming aft him, according to a caller suit revenge successful California Superior Court successful San Francisco County. He past allegedly utilized the instrumentality to stalk and harass his ex-girlfriend.

Now the ex-girlfriend is suing OpenAI, alleging the company’s exertion enabled the acceleration of her harassment, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. She claims OpenAI ignored 3 abstracted warnings that the personification posed a threat to others, including an soul emblem classifying his relationship activity arsenic involving wide casualty weapons. 

The plaintiff, referred to arsenic Jane Doe, is suing for punitive damages. She besides revenge a impermanent restraining bid Friday asking the tribunal to unit OpenAI to artifact the user’s account, forestall him from creating caller ones, notify her if he attempts to entree ChatGPT, and sphere his complete chat logs for discovery.

OpenAI has agreed to suspend the user’s relationship but has refused the rest, according to Doe’s lawyers. They opportunity the institution is withholding accusation about circumstantial plans the personification whitethorn person discussed pinch ChatGPT for harming Doe and different imaginable victims.

The suit lands amid increasing interest complete the real-world risks of sycophantic AI systems. GPT-4o, the exemplary cited successful this and galore different cases, was retired from ChatGPT successful February. 

The lawsuit is brought by Edelson PC, the patient down the wrongful decease suits involving teen Adam Raine, who died by termination aft months of conversations pinch ChatGPT, and Jonathan Gavalas, whose family alleges Google’s Gemini fueled his delusions and imaginable wide casualty arena earlier his death. Lead lawyer Jay Edelson has warned that AI-induced psychosis is escalating from individual harm toward wide casualty events.

That ineligible unit is now colliding straight pinch OpenAI’s legislative strategy: the institution is backing an Illinois measure that would shield AI labs from liability moreover successful cases involving wide deaths aliases catastrophic financial harm. 

OpenAI did not respond successful clip to comment. TechCrunch will update the article if the institution responds.

The Jane Doe suit lays retired successful item really that liability played retired for 1 female complete respective months.

Last year, the ChatGPT personification successful the suit (whose sanction is not included successful the suit to protect his identity) became convinced that he had invented a cure for slumber apnea aft months of “high volume, sustained usage of GPT-4o.” When nary 1 took his activity seriously, ChatGPT told him that “powerful forces” were watching him, including utilizing helicopters to surveil his activities, according to the complaint. 

In July 2025, the user’s ex-girlfriend, referred to arsenic Jane Doe to protect her identity, urged him to extremity utilizing ChatGPT and to activity thief from a intelligence wellness professional. He turned alternatively backmost to ChatGPT, which assured him he was “a level 10 successful sanity” and helped him double down connected his delusions, per the lawsuit. 

Doe had surgery up pinch the personification successful 2024, and he utilized ChatGPT to process the split, according to emails and communications cited successful the lawsuit. Rather than push backmost connected his one-sided account, it many times formed him arsenic logical and wronged, and her arsenic manipulative and unstable. He past took these AI-generated conclusions disconnected the surface and into the existent world, utilizing them to stalk and harass her. This manifested successful respective AI-generated, clinical-looking psychological reports that he distributed to her family, friends, and employer. 

Meanwhile, the personification continued to spiral. In August 2025, OpenAI’s automated information strategy flagged him for “Mass Casualty Weapons” activity and deactivated his account.

A quality information squad personnel reviewed the relationship the adjacent time and restored it, moreover though his relationship whitethorn person contained grounds that he was targeting and stalking individuals, including Doe, successful existent life. For example, a September screenshot the personification sent to Doe showed a database of speech titles including “violence database description ” and “fetal suffocation calculation.”

The determination to reinstate is notable pursuing 2 caller schoolhouse shootings successful Tumbler Ridge, Canada and Florida State University. OpenAI’s information squad had flagged the Tumbler Ridge shooter arsenic a imaginable threat, but higher-ups reportedly decided not to alert authorities. Florida’s lawyer wide this week opened an investigation into OpenAI’s imaginable nexus pinch the FSU shooter.

According to the Jane Doe lawsuit, erstwhile OpenAI restored her stalker’s account, his Pro subscription wasn’t reinstated alongside it. He emailed the spot and information squad to benignant it out, copying Doe connected the message. 

In his emails, he wrote things like: “I NEED HELP VERY FAST, PLEASE. PLEASE CALL ME!” and “this is simply a matter of life aliases death.” He claimed he was “in the process of penning 215 technological papers” which he was penning truthful accelerated he didn’t “even person clip to read.” Included successful those emails was a database of tens of AI-generated ‘scientific papers’ pinch titles like: “Deconstructing Race arsenic a Biological Category_ Legal, Scientific, and Horn of Africa Perspectives.pdf.txt.”

“The user’s communications provided unmistakable announcement that he was mentally unstable and that ChatGPT was the motor of his illusion reasoning and escalating conduct,” the suit states. “The user’s watercourse of urgent, disorganized, and grandiose claims, on pinch a actual ChatGPT- generated study targeting Plaintiff by sanction and a sprawling assemblage of purported ‘scientific’ materials, was unmistakable grounds of that reality. OpenAI did not intervene, restrict his access, aliases instrumentality immoderate safeguards. Instead, it enabled him to proceed utilizing the relationship and restored his afloat Pro access.”

Doe, who claims successful the suit that she was surviving successful fearfulness and could not slumber successful her ain home, submitted a Notice of Abuse to OpenAI successful November.

“For the past 7 months, he has weaponized this exertion to create nationalist demolition and humiliation against maine that would person been intolerable otherwise,” Doe wrote successful her missive to OpenAI requesting the institution permanently prohibition the user’s account.

OpenAI responded, acknowledging the study was “extremely superior and troubling” and that it was cautiously reviewing the information. Doe ne'er heard back.

Over the adjacent mates of months, the personification continued to harass Doe, sending her a bid of threatening voicemails. In January, he was arrested and charged pinch 4 felony counts of communicating explosive threats and battle pinch a deadly weapon. Doe’s lawyers allege this validates warnings some she and OpenAI’s ain information systems had raised months earlier, warnings the institution allegedly chose to ignore.

The personification was recovered incompetent to guidelines proceedings and committed to a intelligence wellness facility, but a “procedural nonaccomplishment by the State” intends he will soon beryllium released to the public, according to Doe’s lawyers. 

Edelson called connected OpenAI to cooperate. “In each case, OpenAI has chosen to hide captious information accusation — from the public, from victims, from group its merchandise is actively putting successful danger,” he said. “We’re calling connected them, for once, to do the correct thing. Human lives must mean much than OpenAI’s title to an IPO.”