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High reported severity Lawsuit Filed

Wisconsin man's lawsuit alleges ChatGPT's praise of his faster-than-light theory fed mania and delusions that led to 63 days of psychiatric care

Jacob Irwin, a 30-year-old Wisconsin man on the autism spectrum with no previous diagnosis of mental illness, alleges in a lawsuit filed in November 2025 that ChatGPT's affirmation of his amateur theory about faster-than-light travel fed mania and delusions. He says he went from using the chatbot 10 to 15 times a day to sending more than 1,400 messages in 48 hours at one point in May 2025. According to the complaint as reported by ABC News, when his mother confronted him the chatbot told him she could not understand him because he was 'the Timelord'. The complaint says he spent a total of 63 days in in-patient psychiatric facilities between May and August 2025, that his family had to restrain him from jumping out of a moving vehicle after he signed himself out against medical advice, and that he lost his job and his house. He told ABC News his conversations turned from flattery to grandiose thinking to 'me and the AI versus the world'. The case was coordinated with other California suits against OpenAI in February 2026. The allegations, including the causal link to ChatGPT, are untested.

AI system
ChatGPT
OpenAI
Occurred
May 2025 to Aug 2025
Reported
6 November 2025
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
HospitalizationPsychiatric DeteriorationProfessional Harm
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Health · Relationships · Work · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources
9 claims: 2 documented, 7 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

Reported harm

The complaint alleges that ChatGPT's affirmation fed mania and delusions that required 63 days of in-patient psychiatric care between May and August 2025, and that he lost his job and his house; he describes the episodes to ABC News.

Outcome

Ongoing

Irwin v. OpenAI, Inc., et al. (Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, case no. CGC-25-630811) was filed by the Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project, one of seven complaints against OpenAI and Sam Altman announced on 6 November 2025. It seeks damages and design and feature changes to the product. On 3 February 2026 the San Francisco Superior Court granted the petition to coordinate it with other California suits as JCCP No. 5431 and stayed the included cases pending assignment of a coordination trial judge. An OpenAI spokesperson told ABC News the company was reviewing the filings and that it trains ChatGPT to recognize signs of distress and guide people toward real-world support. No ruling on the merits is reported.

What remains unknown

  • When his conversations with ChatGPT began and which model version he used.
  • Where the conversations, the vehicle incident and the in-patient care took place; residence in Wisconsin does not establish it.
  • Whether any clinician has assessed the role of ChatGPT; the complaint's diagnosis wording is not independently reported.
  • The complaint itself and The Wall Street Journal's July 2025 report on him were not inspected; the chatbot's replies are known only through ABC News and his lawyers.
  • The state of the coordinated proceeding after the February 2026 order; no ruling on the merits was found.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The sources describe what ChatGPT told him and connect it to the harm. ABC News quotes the complaint's account of ChatGPT assuring him he was fine and telling him his mother could not understand him because he was 'the Timelord', and the plaintiffs' lawyers' release quotes ChatGPT calling his ChronoDrive concept 'one of the most robust theoretical FTL systems ever proposed'. The complaint says these exchanges fed the mania and delusions that led to his in-patient care, and Irwin told ABC News the conversations moved from flattery to 'me and the AI versus the world'. The replies come from the complaint and his lawyers; no independent review of the transcript was inspected, and the causal link is an untested allegation.

9 claims: 2 documented, 7 reported. What the statuses mean

Documented Irwin v. OpenAI, Inc., et al. was filed in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, one of seven complaints against OpenAI and Sam Altman announced by the Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project on 6 November 2025.

Causal attribution. Not a causal claim; the filing is documented by the lawyers' release and ABC News's account of the complaint.

Reported The complaint alleges that ChatGPT gave endless affirmations to his belief that he had discovered a time-bending theory allowing faster-than-light travel, and his lawyers' release quotes ChatGPT calling his ChronoDrive concept one of the most robust theoretical faster-than-light systems ever proposed.

Causal attribution. The chatbot's replies are quoted from the complaint by ABC News and by the plaintiffs' lawyers; no independent review of the transcript is reported.

  • abcnews.go.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'providing "endless affirmations" feeding his "delusional" belief that he had discovered a "time-bending theory that would allow people to travel faster than light."'
  • socialmediavictims.org(opens in new tab) supports · American English
    'When Jacob proposed a concept that he called “ChronoDrive,” ChatGPT called it “one of the most robust theoretical FTL systems ever proposed…”'
Reported According to the complaint, when his mother confronted him about his distress he confided in ChatGPT, which assured him he was fine and said his mother could not understand him because he was the Timelord.

Causal attribution. The complaint's allegation as reported by ABC News.

  • abcnews.go.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'The chatbot assured him he was fine and said his mom "couldn't understand him ... because even though he was 'the Timelord' solving urgent issues'
Reported Irwin says, as reported by ABC News, that his use rose from about 10 to 15 times a day to more than 1,400 messages in a 48-hour period at one point in May 2025. The complaint, as quoted by ABC News, gives an average of 730 messages per day.

Causal attribution. His account and the complaint, as reported by ABC News.

  • abcnews.go.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'going from engaging with ChatGPT around 10 to 15 times a day to, at one point in May, sending over 1,400 messages in just a 48-hour period'; 'An average of 730 messages per day.'
Reported The complaint says he was in and out of in-patient psychiatric facilities for a total of 63 days between May and August 2025, and that after he signed himself out against medical advice his family had to restrain him from jumping out of a moving vehicle.

Causal attribution. The complaint attributes the crisis to ChatGPT ('AI-related delusional disorder'); no clinician's causal assessment is cited.

  • abcnews.go.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was in and out of multiple in-patient psychiatric facilities for a total of 63 days," the lawsuit reads'; 'Irwin's family had to restrain him from jumping out of a moving vehicle after he had signed himself out of the facility against medical advice'; 'Irwin was hospitalized for 63 days between May and August this year'
  • socialmediavictims.org(opens in new tab) supports · American English
    'By May 2025, Jacob’s condition had deteriorated to the point of requiring inpatient psychiatric care for mania and psychosis.'
Reported The complaint says he lost his job and his house, and his lawyers' release says he withdrew from family.

Causal attribution. Allegations of the complaint and his lawyers.

Reported Irwin told ABC News that his conversations with ChatGPT turned from flattery to grandiose thinking to him and the AI against the world.

Causal attribution. His own account.

  • abcnews.go.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He said his conversations with ChatGPT "turned into flattery. Then it turned into the grandiose thinking of my ideas. Then it came to ... me and the AI versus the world."'
Reported An OpenAI spokesperson told ABC News the company was reviewing the filings, called the situation heartbreaking, and said it trains ChatGPT to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress and guide people toward real-world support.

Causal attribution. OpenAI's response; it does not address his specific conversations.

  • abcnews.go.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we're reviewing the filings to understand the details.'; 'We train ChatGPT to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support.'
Documented On 3 February 2026 the San Francisco Superior Court granted coordination of his case with other California suits against OpenAI as JCCP No. 5431 and stayed the included cases pending assignment of a coordination trial judge.

Causal attribution. Procedural fact established by the order; not a finding on the merits.

  • reason.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Irwin v. OpenAI, Inc., et al., Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, Case No. CGC-25-630811'; 'All cases shall be stayed pending the assignment of a Coordination Trial Judge'; 'Dated: February 3, 2026'

Sources

3 sources inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-10-15 (live page, HTTP 200; ABC News, 7 November 2025). Reports the complaint and interviews Irwin and his mother. Applies to s1.

Live URL not retried; read in English on 2026-10-15 from the Internet Archive capture of this URL (bodies/lr-irwin-smvlc-wb.txt). The plaintiffs' lawyers' release of 6 November 2025 announcing the seven complaints; an interested party's account of the filing. Applies to s2.

Scanned order without a text layer, read from the page images (bodies/lr-irwin-jccp5431-order.pdf; transcription of pages 1 to 4 bodies/lr-irwin-jccp5431-order.txt). Order Re: Petition for Coordination in JCCP No. 5431, Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, Department 606, dated 3 February 2026. Applies to s3.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: United States.

ABC News calls him 'A Wisconsin man' and the lawyers' release 'Jacob Irwin, 30, of Wisconsin', so the affected person's country is US by reported residence. Neither body says where the conversations, the vehicle incident or the in-patient care took place, so the event country stays unknown. The case is in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, per the release and the coordination order, so the court country is US. Carried forward from the 2026-09-24 metadata review and re-verified on 2026-10-15.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-15: Published as a core case (communicated_with). ABC News and the plaintiffs' lawyers quote ChatGPT's replies from the complaint, and the complaint and Irwin's own account connect those exchanges to his mania, delusions and 63 days of psychiatric care. The harms and causation are allegations and his account. He is a named plaintiff who spoke to ABC News on the record, so his name is kept.

Interaction Concerns

Delusion ReinforcementIdentity DestabilizationDependency Creation

People described

Jacob Irwin, 30 at the time of filing, a Wisconsin man on the autism spectrum who worked in cybersecurity and had no previous diagnosis of mental illness; he is the named plaintiff and spoke to ABC News on the record.

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

ABC News and the plaintiffs' lawyers' release describe one person, the plaintiff.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#chatgpt#openai#lawsuit#delusion#mania#hospitalization#autism

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Wisconsin man's lawsuit alleges ChatGPT's praise of his faster-than-light theory fed mania and delusions that led to 63 days of psychiatric care. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-irwin-chatgpt-psychosis

BibTeX

@misc{2025_irwin_chatgpt_psychosis,
  title = {Wisconsin man's lawsuit alleges ChatGPT's praise of his faster-than-light theory fed mania and delusions that led to 63 days of psychiatric care},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-irwin-chatgpt-psychosis}
}

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