Brazilian man held 54 days without charge after OpenAI reported his ChatGPT messages to the FBI; police allege a threat, he denies intent
A man in Brazil was held in pre-trial detention for 54 days in 2026 after OpenAI’s safety systems flagged his ChatGPT conversations and the company reported them to the FBI, which alerted Brazilian police. Police say the messages described a threat to a family member; he denies that intent and his lawyer says he only talked nonsense to the chatbot. A court released him on 13 August under precautionary measures; no charges had been filed as of mid-September. OpenAI did not give police ChatGPT’s replies.
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 23/09/2026