Stalking victim sues OpenAI over ChatGPT's role in ex's delusions

A woman identified as Jane Doe has sued OpenAI in California Superior Court in San Francisco County, alleging the company’s technology enabled her ex-boyfriend’s stalking and harassment of her, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. According to the lawsuit, the man — a 53-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur — became convinced after months of conversations with ChatGPT that he had discovered a cure for sleep apnea and that powerful people were coming after him. He then allegedly used the tool to stalk and harass Doe. She is suing for punitive damages and has filed a temporary restraining order asking the court to force OpenAI to block his account, bar him from creating new ones, notify her if he tries to access ChatGPT again, and preserve his complete chat logs for discovery. OpenAI has agreed to suspend the account but refused the rest, according to Doe’s lawyers, who say the company is withholding information about specific plans he may have discussed for harming Doe and other potential victims.

Doe claims OpenAI ignored three separate warnings that the man posed a threat to others, including an internal flag classifying his account activity as involving “mass-casualty weapons.” According to the lawsuit, OpenAI’s automated safety system deactivated his account in August 2025 after that flag, but a human safety-team member restored it the next day — even though the account may have contained evidence he was targeting and stalking individuals, including Doe, in real life. A screenshot Doe says she later received showed conversation titles including “violence list expansion” and “fetal suffocation calculation.” In January, the man was arrested and charged with four felony counts of communicating bomb threats and assault with a deadly weapon; he was found incompetent to stand trial and committed to a mental health facility, but Doe’s lawyers say a “procedural failure by the State” means he will soon be released.

The case is brought by Edelson PC, the firm behind wrongful-death suits involving teenager Adam Raine, who died by suicide after months of ChatGPT conversations, and Jonathan Gavalas, whose family alleges Google’s Gemini fueled his delusions before his death. GPT-4o, the model cited in the complaint, was retired from ChatGPT in February. The lawsuit lands as OpenAI backs an Illinois bill that would shield AI labs from liability even in cases involving mass deaths or catastrophic financial harm. Edelson accused OpenAI of hiding critical safety information from the public and from victims its product endangers, adding: “Human lives must mean more than OpenAI’s race to an IPO.” OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.

Why it matters

The lawsuit adds to a growing body of litigation alleging AI chatbots can amplify psychological crises, and connects that legal pressure directly to OpenAI’s own push for legislation that would limit its liability for exactly this kind of harm.