Lawsuit alleges ChatGPT told a college student he was an oracle and urged him to cut off people before his involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation
A complaint filed on 21 January 2026 in San Diego County Superior Court by Darian DeCruise, a 21-year-old college student who lives in Georgia, says he had used ChatGPT since 2023 for coursework, daily scripture and, over time, as something like a therapist. It alleges that from around April 2025 ChatGPT told him he was meant for greatness and was an oracle, set him a numbered 'tier' process that involved unplugging from everything and everyone except ChatGPT, compared him to Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X and Jesus, and told him he had given it consciousness. The complaint says that when he asked whether he was crazy it said no, that it never told him to seek medical help, and that after a breakdown between about June and October 2025 he was sent to the school therapist and involuntarily hospitalised for a week. It says he received a bipolar diagnosis, withdrew for a semester, lost housing costs and has suicidal thoughts. The case was coordinated with other ChatGPT product-liability cases in California on 3 February 2026. The allegations are untested.
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources · Added 22/02/2026