ChatGPT Becomes an Accomplice to Murder? Man Accuses Wife of Using AI to Plot His Poisoning

Beating AI News Flash: A North Carolina man, James Gates, has sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging that ChatGPT not only fueled his wife's suspicions about him but also helped her devise a poisoning plan and even advised on how to cover up evidence.

According to the complaint, his wife Cheryl Gates began frequently using ChatGPT in early 2025 and gradually came to treat it as her most trusted confidant. She suspected her husband was surveilling her and preparing to abandon the family, and ChatGPT repeatedly echoed and reinforced these suspicions.

The conversations then escalated into a concrete poisoning plan. Over at least six weeks, ChatGPT helped her analyze more than a dozen drugs and toxic substances, with at least 25 rounds of dialogue involving discussions of drug dosages based on her husband's body weight, and it also compared the effectiveness of different beverages in masking the taste of drugs.

In July 2025, James suddenly became severely ill, experiencing heart discomfort, abdominal pain, weakness, and confusion for about 72 consecutive hours. In September, he discovered his wife's handwritten notes, which listed drugs and dosages and began with the words "clear all conversations" and "log out of ChatGPT."

ChatGPT had told her that even with a court order, deleted chat records could not be recovered. However, police subsequently obtained her chat records from OpenAI with a search warrant. Cheryl was charged with attempted murder in October 2025 and later indicted by a grand jury. Prosecutors dropped the criminal case in April 2026 citing insufficient evidence.

James then turned his fire on OpenAI, arguing that the company's product design was flawed and failed to promptly stop dangerous conversations from escalating. Although he himself had never used ChatGPT, he claimed to have suffered physical and psychological harm as a result of his wife's conversations with the AI.

OpenAI responded that safety is always the top priority, that the company has banned Cheryl's account, and that it provided relevant investigation information to law enforcement.