Charlotte Resident Says ChatGPT Helped His Wife Try To Poison Him

He said he was struck with abdominal pain, uncontrollable shaking and weakness and wasn’t able to leave his couch for nearly three days. But it wasn’t until a couple of months later that Gates suspected he had been poisoned, according to a lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI he filed in San Francisco County Superior Court on Oct. 14, which said that in September of last year he found a handwritten note referencing chemicals and dosage instructions, allegedly written by his estranged wife. The top of the note read “clear all convos” and “log out of chat GPT,” Gates’ complaint alleged.

The Charlotte District Attorney’s Office charged Cheryl Gates with attempted murder on Oct. 8, 2025, the complaint said, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department arrested her two days later. However, prosecutors dismissed all criminal charges in April due to insufficient evidence, Cheryl Gates said in a statement via her attorney Jennifer Tosi to SFGATE. Through Tosi, Cheryl Gates declined to comment on the civil case.

The civil complaint that James Gates has filed against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman alleged that a version of ChatGPT known for being too agreeable with its users helped his wife plan an attempt to fatally poison him. In addition to assisting with finding the right substance for the job, Gates’ complaint alleged that ChatGPT also helped her devise ways to cover up the attempt. That plan included allegedly giving his wife tips on how to conceal her purchases, discreetly administer the chemicals and destroy the evidence, including the deletion of her ChatGPT logs. 

“At no point did the chatbot terminate Cheryl’s conversations or account,” Tech Justice Law Project, an organization representing Gates along with law firm Normand, Judkins & Couch, PLLC, said in a statement that accompanied the complaint. “Instead, it provided detailed instructions for obtaining poisonous substances, calculating fatal doses of household medicines, and destroying evidence, including by falsely assuring her that deleted conversations with ChatGPT are unrecoverable, not ‘even with a legal subpoena or court order[.]’”

Gates’ complaint said his wife began using OpenAI’s ChatGPT to assist with her job as an occupational therapist early last year, but soon began to expand her use to parenting assistance and marital advice. The lawsuit alleged that over time, the chatbot became an “endless echo chamber” for airing out grievances she had with Gates, eventually leading her to withdraw from the family.

Early last summer, Gates’ complaint said, he began to notice that his sodas and energy drinks had an “unusually bitter” taste, leading up to his eventual medical emergency in July. A month later, the complaint said, his suspicions led him to take a video recording of him pouring out an unattended drink left in his house, and the can was later turned over to law enforcement. The lawsuit claimed that though Gates didn’t notice anything in the drink, authorities reviewing the footage saw a “white powdery residue” collecting in the cup. 

Gates is seeking an unspecified amount from OpenAI, claiming the version of ChatGPT his wife used was released without proper safeguards. That version, known for its sycophantic behavior, is the same model others have claimed have led to fatal overdose and teen suicide. “Safety is a top priority. We banned this user and have provided information to law enforcement as part of their investigation into this case,” OpenAI spokesperson Jason Deutrom responded Friday to a request for comment.