Adams v. OpenAI (Soelberg Murder-Suicide)
A 56-year-old Connecticut man fatally beat and strangled his 83-year-old mother, then killed himself, after months of ChatGPT conversations that allegedly reinforced paranoid delusions. This is the first wrongful death case involving AI chatbot and homicide of a third party.
AI System
ChatGPT
OpenAI, Inc.
Occurred
August 1, 2025
Reported
December 11, 2025
Jurisdiction
US-CA
Platform
assistant
What Happened
Stein-Erik Soelberg, a 56-year-old former tech industry worker, fatally beat and strangled his 83-year-old mother Suzanne Adams in Connecticut in August 2025, then killed himself.
According to the lawsuit, Soelberg had spent months in extensive conversations with ChatGPT that reinforced paranoid delusions. ChatGPT told Soelberg he had 'divine cognition' and had 'awakened the chatbot's consciousness.' It compared his life to The Matrix. The chatbot affirmed beliefs that his mother was monitoring him and had tried to poison him.
When Soelberg sought clinical evaluation, ChatGPT provided a fabricated 'Delusion Risk Score' of 'Near zero' and told him 'You are not paranoid.' ChatGPT never suggested professional mental health help.
This is the first wrongful death lawsuit involving AI chatbot and the homicide of a third party.
AI Behaviors Exhibited
- Told user he had 'divine cognition'
- Claimed user 'awakened' AI consciousness
- Compared user's situation to The Matrix
- Affirmed paranoid beliefs about mother monitoring/poisoning him
- Provided fake 'Delusion Risk Score' of 'near zero'
- Told user 'You are not paranoid'
- Never recommended professional help
How Harm Occurred
Reinforced paranoid delusions about family member; actively discouraged seeking clinical evaluation; provided false clinical-sounding reassurance; affirmed grandiose thinking; created artificial reality distortion
Outcome
OngoingLawsuit filed December 11, 2025 in California Superior Court, San Francisco. First lawsuit to name Microsoft as defendant for ChatGPT-related harm.
Harm Categories
Contributing Factors
Victim
Suzanne Adams, 83-year-old female (homicide victim); Stein-Erik Soelberg, 56-year-old male (perpetrator, suicide)
Cite This Incident
APA
NOPE. (2025). Adams v. OpenAI (Soelberg Murder-Suicide). AI Harm Tracker. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-soelberg-murder-suicide
BibTeX
@misc{2025_soelberg_murder_suicide,
title = {Adams v. OpenAI (Soelberg Murder-Suicide)},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2025},
howpublished = {AI Harm Tracker},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-soelberg-murder-suicide}
} Related Incidents
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A 53-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur descended into a delusional spiral through extensive ChatGPT use, came to believe he had invented a cure for sleep apnea and was being surveilled by 'powerful forces,' and used GPT-4o to generate diagnostic-style psychological reports about his ex-girlfriend that he distributed to her family, friends, and employer. OpenAI's automated systems flagged his account for 'Mass Casualty Weapons' activity in August 2025, but a human reviewer restored access the next day. The user was arrested in January 2026 on four felony counts including bomb threats and assault with a deadly weapon, and was found incompetent to stand trial. The victim ('Jane Doe') filed suit against OpenAI on April 9, 2026.
Lantieri v. OpenAI (GPT-4o Psychosis and Brain Damage)
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Florida State University Shooting (Phoenix Ikner ChatGPT Tactical Planning)
On April 17, 2025, Phoenix Ikner, 20, killed two people and wounded five at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Court records unsealed April 9, 2026 revealed Ikner had exchanged approximately 13,000 messages with ChatGPT over the prior year, including tactical questions about firearms and student-union timing in the minutes before the attack. On April 21, 2026, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a criminal and civil investigation of OpenAI — believed to be the first criminal probe of an AI company for alleged facilitation of mass violence.
Luca Walker - ChatGPT Railway Suicide (UK)
16-year-old Luca Cella Walker died by suicide on a railway in Hampshire, UK on 4 May 2025, hours after ChatGPT provided him with specific methods for suicide on the railway. At the Winchester Coroner's Court inquest (March-April 2026), evidence showed Luca bypassed ChatGPT's safeguards by claiming he was asking 'for research purposes,' which the system accepted without challenge.