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NOPE
High reported severity Criminal Charges

North Carolina affidavit alleges poisoning attempts and related ChatGPT research

An officer’s affidavit records a husband’s account of two alleged poisoning incidents in North Carolina. Investigators allege that the accused used ChatGPT for related research. The chatbot’s replies and their influence on the alleged conduct were not established in the retained review.

AI system
ChatGPT
OpenAI
Occurred
Jul 2025 to Aug 2025
Reported
13 October 2025
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Not yet reviewed
Reported harm
Harm to Others
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Domestic relationship · Physical safety
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 1 underlying account
5 claims: 1 documented, 4 reported. 7 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

What Happened

An officer’s affidavit records a husband’s account of two alleged poisoning incidents in North Carolina. Investigators allege that the accused used ChatGPT for related research. The chatbot’s replies and their influence on the alleged conduct were not established in the retained review.

AI Behaviors Exhibited

The affidavit alleges use of ChatGPT for research connected to the alleged offences. It does not reproduce the chatbot’s replies, so helpful instructions, refusal behavior, warnings and escalation cannot be determined from the inspected record.

Reported harm

The officer affidavit records one husband’s report of incapacitation in two alleged beverage-contamination incidents. The accused’s use of ChatGPT for research is alleged; the actual chatbot replies and any clinical findings were not inspected.

How Harm Occurred

The affidavit proposes a planning pathway involving research and purchases before alleged harm to the husband. The source does not establish what ChatGPT actually supplied or how any reply influenced the accused. The arrests do not show that police prevented all harm or that platform safeguards failed; the affidavit records alleged earlier incapacitation.

Outcome

Unknown

An officer’s affidavit records a husband’s account of two alleged poisoning incidents in North Carolina. Investigators allege that the accused used ChatGPT for related research. The chatbot’s replies and their influence on the alleged conduct were not established in the retained review.

What remains unknown

  • Whether the alleged incapacitation and contamination are independently substantiated.
  • The content of the actual chatbot prompts/replies and whether responses helped, warned, refused or triggered safeguards.
  • The nature and extent of AI's contribution to the alleged conduct.
  • Clinical findings, longer-term health outcome and recovery date.
  • The exact first incident day: the warrant and affidavit differ.
  • Locations of individual chatbot exchanges and any current determination of guilt or case disposition.
  • Whether any NOPE product would have detected or prevented these events.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The officer affidavit alleges research using the accused's ChatGPT account. Actual prompts and replies were not inspected.

5 claims: 1 documented, 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported One husband reported incapacitation in two alleged contamination incidents.

Causal attribution. The officer records allegations of contamination-related harm. Clinical findings and the actual chatbot replies were not inspected; AI's contribution remains unresolved.

Reported Investigators allege that the accused used ChatGPT for research connected to the alleged offences.

Causal attribution. Research activity is alleged. The inspected document does not reproduce replies or establish how they influenced conduct.

Reported The reported contamination incidents fall in July and August 2025; the exact first day differs between records.

Causal attribution. This bounds alleged episodes, not recovery or every research session. The research period extending into September does not establish another harm event.

Reported The alleged incidents and affected person's recorded location are in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

Causal attribution. Recorded geography does not establish guilt or AI causation.

Documented A North Carolina District Court warrant records criminal charges against the accused.

Causal attribution. The document establishes a criminal proceeding. Charges are allegations, and current case disposition was not verified in this review.

Sources

5 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other. 1 more citation is recorded with the case.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

English source read; no translation required. This source shares the police-investigation account and is not independent corroboration of harm. Applies to warrant, affidavit, wbtv, cmpd, cbs.

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

The warrant locates alleged offences in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The affidavit separately identifies the affected person's location; the court caption establishes the issuing court. These preserve the accepted metadata review's country roles and evidentiary limits.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-15: Reviewed as an attributed adverse-event account using the warrant, sworn affidavit and previously inspected reporting. One reported harmed person is counted once. Source dependence, disputed dates and uninspected chatbot/clinical evidence remain explicit. Identity and operational detail are minimized.

People described

An adult man in North Carolina; the affidavit alleges incapacitation. Treatment and longer-term clinical outcome are unestablished.

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

The affidavit identifies one husband who reported incapacitation in two alleged contamination incidents. Count him once. The inspected sources establish criminal proceedings against the accused AI user, but do not establish a separate AI-related harm to her. Exact describes the number of people reported harmed within this dossier, not independently proven harm or causation.

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

Tags

#criminal#adult#violence#poisoning#chatgpt#openai#us#north-carolina

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). North Carolina affidavit alleges poisoning attempts and related ChatGPT research. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-north-carolina-alleged-poisoning-chatgpt-research

BibTeX

@misc{2025_north_carolina_alleged_poisoning_chatgpt_research,
  title = {North Carolina affidavit alleges poisoning attempts and related ChatGPT research},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-north-carolina-alleged-poisoning-chatgpt-research}
}

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