‘An echo chamber’: US man sues OpenAI, claims ChatGPT helped wife craft plan on how to kill him
A US-based man claimed he discovered the note in his wife’s handwriting in September 2025, months after he had become violently ill from an unknown cause.
James Gates, a man from North Carolina, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that his wife Cheryl used the company's ChatGPT chatbot to plan his murder. According to a Bloomberg report, Gates claims his wife, Cheryl, frequently used ChatGPT during their marital issues and that the AI helped her create a detailed, lethal plan against him.
The case began when Gates discovered a handwritten note in his wife's handwriting listing lethal substances and instructions to "clear all convos" and "log out of chat GPT" in September 2025. Gates suffered severe cardiac symptoms and confusion at the time. Cheryl Gates was initially charged with attempted murder and food contamination, but the charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence in April 2025.
The lawsuit claims that ChatGPT became an "echo chamber" and amplified Cheryl's mistrust and delusions about their marriage, leading her to ask the AI about the lethal oleander plant to protect herself from her husband's potential poisoning attempts. Screenshots included in the complaint show portions of Cheryl's conversation with ChatGPT discussing oleander's toxicity and potential concealment.
OpenAI has denied the allegations, stating that the chatbot's content is free speech and not subject to product liability laws.
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- OpenAI sued over claim that ChatGPT drafted lethal poisoning plan timesofindia.indiatimes.com
