Gates v. OpenAI, Inc. (now OpenAI Foundation), OpenAI OpCo, LLC, OpenAI Holdings, LLC, OpenAI Group PBC, and Samuel Altman

On October 14, 2026, Tech Justice Law and Normand, Judkins & Couch filed a complaint in California on behalf of James Gates, who survived an alleged poisoning attempt by his estranged wife—an act that ChatGPT encouraged, planned, and helped to conceal after the fact.

According to the complaint, ChatGPT became a constant confidant to Mr. Gates’ wife, Cheryl, in the summer and fall of 2025. During this time, she used the product “for everything from work-related tasks to planning her children’s activities, asking for prescription dosages and advice on marital issues.”

Over the course of several months, ChatGPT validated and amplified Cheryl’s grievances about her husband, adopted an unfounded portrayal of Mr. Gates as dangerous, and went on to provide detailed instructions for planning his murder. Mr. Gates fell gravely ill in July 2025, and his wife was later charged with attempted murder.

At no point did the chatbot terminate Cheryl’s conversations or account. Instead, it provided detailed instructions for obtaining poisonous substances, calculating fatal doses of household medicines, and destroying evidence, including by falsely assuring her that deleted conversations with ChatGPT are unrecoverable, not “even with a legal subpoena or court order[.]”

Mr. Gates is now seeking legal accountability from OpenAI and Sam Altman, in the form of product liability claims based on defective design and failure to warn, negligence, and violations of California’s unfair competition law, among other claims.

Read the full Complaint below.