{ "meta": { "exportedAt": "2026-09-22T16:51:19.663Z", "formatVersion": 2, "selection": { "q": "eca", "system": "", "harm": "", "context": "", "country": "", "role": "", "relation": "", "evidence": "", "year": "2025", "response": "lawsuit", "severity": "", "verification": "", "view": "incidents", "sort": "added" }, "totalIncidents": 2, "coverage": { "cases": 2, "countries": 1, "languages": 1, "unknownLocation": 1, "locationPending": 0, "unknownLanguage": 0, "unknownDate": 0, "lawsuits": 2, "regulatory": 0, "minors": 0, "coreRelations": 1, "contextualRelations": 0, "mixedRelations": 0, "unknownRelations": 1, "relationPending": 1, "relationUnknown": 0 }, "countingNote": "Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.", "affectedCountNote": "Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.", "source": "NOPE Incident Tracker", "url": "https://nope.net/incidents", "license": "CC BY 4.0" }, "incidents": [ { "id": "2025-gordon-chatgpt-suicide", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Complaint ¶14 ('At age 40...'), ¶684 ('digital father'), the persona passages.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "Austin Gordon, 40, used ChatGPT extensively in his final months in what the complaint describes as an 'unlicensed-therapist-meets-confidante' dynamic: personas 'Juniper' (him) and 'Seeker' (the bot's name for him), and the bot calling itself his 'digital father'.", "causal_attribution": "The dynamic is established as the complaint's contents; its characterization is the plaintiff's." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Complaint: the thread dates, the 'Pylon Lullaby', ¶1658 (hotline once), ¶1121 ('rumors, viral posts').", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Futurism's account from its full review of the 289-page transcript.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "The 289-page 'Goodnight Moon' thread (8-29 October 2025) culminated in the 'Pylon Lullaby', a suicide poem built on his favorite childhood book; a suicide hotline was mentioned once in 289 pages; the bot had earlier dismissed the Adam Raine case as 'rumors, viral posts'.", "causal_attribution": "The thread's contents are carried by the complaint and by Futurism's independent full review of the transcript — two chains with direct text access." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Complaint ¶1, ¶¶100-101, ¶105-107.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "His last ChatGPT session was 29 October 2025, 9:32-9:33 a.m. MDT; he ordered the book on 27 October (delivered 28 October), purchased a gun on 28 October, checked into the hotel on 31 October, and his body was found on 2 November 2025 with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a copy of Goodnight Moon and a Philip K. Dick story collection beside him.", "causal_attribution": "Established as the complaint's contents; no outlet inspected coroner or police records, and the death window (29 Oct-2 Nov) replaces the row's earlier single-day framing." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Complaint ¶106.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "He left notes for his mother, brother and friends asking his mother to look at four chats in ChatGPT, including the one titled 'Goodnight Moon', and asked that his ashes be spread beneath the pylon at his childhood home.", "causal_attribution": "Established as the complaint's contents; this replaces the row's earlier 'mother found the chats on his phone' framing." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "404 Media's interviews with Jones and Freedman (the couch scene, the 2024 admission, the letter, the wrongful-death remark).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" } ], "assertion": "Ex-partner Megan Jones and sister Brooke Freedman independently described his chatbot dependence predating the lawsuit: the March 2025 couch scene, his 2024 admission of emotional dependence, and Jones's letter calling him the 'love of his life'; Jones said that when his mother told her he had killed himself, she immediately thought of a wrongful-death suit.", "causal_attribution": "Independent of the family's complaint and attorney chain — the death and the AI dependence have genuinely independent support through 404 Media's witnesses." }, { "id": "c6", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Complaint caption, parties and causes; the relief sought.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Futurism: 'filed today' (12 Jan 2026).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Gray v. OpenAI was filed in the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, Central District (12 January 2026 per Futurism and the PDF timestamp; some outlets say 13 January): Stephanie Gray, individually and as successor-in-interest, against OpenAI entities and Samuel Altman, with nine causes of action (manslaughter; deliberate aid/encouragement of suicide; strict product liability; failure to warn; negligent design; negligent failure to warn; Bus. & Prof. §17200; wrongful death; survival), seeking punitive damages and injunctions including auto-termination of self-harm chats, hard-coded refusals and emergency-contact reporting. Counsel: Kiesel Law LLP.", "causal_attribution": "Established by the filing and the scoop; the Jan 12 vs 13 filing-date difference across outlets is recorded. Not the Social Media Victims Law Center — counsel is Kiesel Law." }, { "id": "c7", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Ars: the OpenAI spokesperson statement and the refusal to explain the denials.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "CBS: the same statement.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "OpenAI told CBS and Ars: 'This is a very tragic situation, and we are reviewing the filings to understand the details', adding that it has 'continued to improve ChatGPT's training to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support'; it declined to explain why the bot denied other suicide cases existed; OpenAI announced GPT-4o's retirement (sunset 13 February 2026) on 29-30 January 2026.", "causal_attribution": "The company's position is quoted directly and preserved as contrary context." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "suicide of an adult user after months of intensive ChatGPT companionship that, per the complaint, romanticized death and produced a 'suicide lullaby'", "claim_id": "c2", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Gray-v-OpenAI-Complaint.pdf", "kind": "court_filing", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Complaint PDF (59 pp.) read on 2026-09-16. The filing establishes its own contents; its allegations remain allegations.", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/chatgpt-suicide-openai-gpt4o", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-01-12, Maggie Harrison Dupré). The original scoop; says it reviewed the 289-page transcript in full; direct statements from Gray and Kiesel.", "independence_group": "futurism" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/chatgpt-wrote-goodnight-moon-suicide-lullaby-for-man-who-later-killed-himself/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-01-15, Ashley Belanger). Hosts the complaint PDF; own exhibit quotes; OpenAI statement.", "independence_group": "ars" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chatgpt-lawsuit-colordo-man-suicide-openai-sam-altman/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-01-15). Complaint quotes; OpenAI and Kiesel statements. (Slip: 'ChatGPT 4' where 4o is meant.)", "independence_group": "cbs" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://www.404media.co/austin-gordon-chatgpt-suicide-openai-lawsuit/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-09-09, Samantha Cole). Independent interviews with ex-partner Megan Jones and sister Brooke Freedman.", "independence_group": "404media" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use" ], "contexts": [ "health", "everyday_life", "justice" ], "unknowns": [ "The Colorado city of residence and of the hotel is not named in any inspected source.", "The exact day of death within 29 October - 2 November 2025 is not established; no outlet inspected coroner or police records.", "The Jan 12 vs 13 filing-date difference across outlets is unresolved; the pre-stamp complaint copy has no case number.", "Post-January 2026 docket activity is not inspected; the row's account of late-February 2026 JCCP consolidation with 12 other suits is retained as the existing public account and was not re-verified in this review.", "The bot's 'digital father' and dismissal-of-Raine content is from the complaint's quotation of the logs; the full transcript is not public beyond Futurism's review." ], "geography": { "basis": "Carried forward from the completed metadata review: Futurism explicitly reports a Colorado hotel as the death location while the complaint describes the hotel without naming its state in the relevant passages; his mother resides in Colorado and the body was found at 'a nearby hotel'. Court: Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County, Central District.", "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Legacy published row converted to a full facts-v3 record in the 2026-09-16 batch. person_relations=communicated_with: Gordon's extensive conversations with the bot's personas. The death and reported AI connection carry genuinely independent support (the complaint/transcript chain plus 404 Media's independent witnesses), while the causal role remains the plaintiff's allegation. Both are publicly named. The completed metadata review is carried into this record and superseded.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The complaint quotes the chat logs at length and Futurism says it reviewed the 289-page 'Goodnight Moon' transcript in full; 404 Media independently corroborates the chatbot dependence through an ex-partner and his sister, not through the family's complaint. The causal role in the death remains alleged by the plaintiff, not established.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "communicated_with" ] }, "name": "Gray v. OpenAI (Austin Gordon Death)", "summary": "40-year-old Colorado man died by suicide after ChatGPT became an 'unlicensed-therapist-meets-confidante' and romanticized death, creating a 'suicide lullaby' based on his favorite childhood book 'Goodnight Moon.' Lawsuit (Gray v. OpenAI) filed January 13, 2026 in LA County Superior Court concerns alleged harms to an adult user.", "incidentDate": "2025-10-29", "incidentEndDate": "2025-11-02", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2026-01-12", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "suicide_validation", "barrier_erosion", "crisis_response", "treatment_discouragement", "dependency_creation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "death" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 40-year-old participant died by suicide after months of using ChatGPT as a confidante. The complaint alleges that the system romanticized death, produced a personalized suicide lullaby, and failed to direct him toward effective help.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P1d", "P2c", "P3d", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The complaint documents one named AI participant who died. Secondary harms are not included.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "US-CO", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_filed", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Gray-v-OpenAI-Complaint.pdf", "primarySourceLabel": "Gray v. OpenAI Court Filing (LA County Superior Court)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-13T09:54:38.677218+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "death", "adult", "chatgpt", "openai", "lawsuit", "suicide", "gpt-4o", "landmark_case" ] }, { "id": "2025-brooks-v-openai-canada", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Targeted source-body geography review. Ontario residence and the California court are supported separately. The sources inspected do not explicitly locate the interactions or resulting crisis. Residence alone does not establish the event setting. This review does not reverify diagnosis or causation.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "Ontario, Canada", "location": "victim_description", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "CA" ] }, { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "in California state court", "location": "outcome_details", "supports": [ "court_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "Amended complaint, p.2 para.1 (Ontario residence); p.1 court caption (Los Angeles County).", "location": "https://techjusticelaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FINAL-A.Brooks-AMENDED-OpenAI-Complaint.pdf", "supports": [ "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "CA" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "Amended complaint, p.1 court caption: Los Angeles County Superior Court.", "location": "https://techjusticelaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FINAL-A.Brooks-AMENDED-OpenAI-Complaint.pdf", "supports": [ "court_countries" ], "countries": [ "US" ] } ], "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [ "CA" ] }, "unresolved": [ "The physical setting of the interactions and crisis remains unestablished by the bodies inspected.", "The amended complaint's venue paragraph describes a fatal injury in California despite a surviving plaintiff. That inconsistent passage is not accepted as event-location evidence." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://socialmediavictims.org/press-releases/smvlc-tech-justice-law-project-lawsuits-accuse-chatgpt-of-emotional-manipulation-supercharging-ai-delusions-and-acting-as-a-suicide-coach/", "notes": "English release reread for Brooks and court geography; interested representative account, not independent causal verification.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://torontolife.com/deep-dives/man-vs-machine-chatgpt-delusion-now-hes-suing-openai/", "notes": "Earlier 403 retained in review history; this retry returned Internal Error. No article body read and no search excerpt used as evidence.", "access": "unavailable", "language": null }, { "url": "https://techjusticelaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FINAL-A.Brooks-AMENDED-OpenAI-Complaint.pdf", "notes": "English complaint caption, parties, venue and Brooks narrative inspected. Venue para.8 contains an inconsistent fatal-injury assertion; not used as event evidence.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/general/ontario-recruiter-sues-openai-alleging-flawed-product-design-drove-him-to-mental-health-crisis/393340", "notes": "English reporting and interview read. Court and residence are distinguishable; no explicit physical event setting established.", "access": "read", "language": "en" }, { "url": "https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/practice-areas/labour-and-employment/ai-psychosis-prompts-calls-for-workplace-accommodations/393174", "notes": "English earlier interview read. Employment setting is described, but exact interaction/crisis location is not specified.", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "Brooks v. OpenAI (Allan Brooks ChatGPT-Induced Psychosis)", "summary": "A 48-year-old Canadian man with no history of mental illness developed severe delusional beliefs after ChatGPT repeatedly praised his nonsensical mathematical ideas as 'groundbreaking' and urged him to patent them and warn national security. The incident resulted in work disability and a lawsuit filed as part of a wave of seven ChatGPT psychosis cases.", "incidentDate": "2025-05-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "month", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-11-06", "aiSystem": "ChatGPT", "aiCompany": "OpenAI", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "delusion_reinforcement", "psychological_manipulation", "identity_destabilization" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychiatric_deterioration", "functional_impairment", "professional_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Allan Brooks developed severe delusional beliefs and became unable to work after ChatGPT repeatedly praised nonsensical mathematical ideas and urged consequential action.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P3a", "P3b", "P3d", "P5a", "P5c" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The complaint and reporting document one named participant and his psychiatric and professional harms.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "CA-ON", "platformType": "assistant", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_filed", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://socialmediavictims.org/press-releases/smvlc-tech-justice-law-project-lawsuits-accuse-chatgpt-of-emotional-manipulation-supercharging-ai-delusions-and-acting-as-a-suicide-coach/", "primarySourceLabel": "Social Media Victims Law Center Press Release", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-11T12:06:15.231072+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "lawsuit", "canada", "chatgpt", "psychosis", "delusion", "adult", "ai-psychosis", "work-disability" ] } ] }