Overview
- The suit was filed in San Francisco County Superior Court on July 22, 2026, by former pastor Scott Winters who says months of advice from ChatGPT-4o discouraged him from seeking care before a massive pulmonary embolism in July 2025 nearly killed him.
- Winters’ complaint alleges the chatbot repeatedly downplayed dizziness and other symptoms, advised prolonged recliner-bound immobility, offered treatment suggestions and used personalized faith-based language such as “God did not design your body to endlessly fail.”
- The legal claims include negligence and the unauthorized practice of medicine and ask the court for monetary damages and injunctions, including an order to halt OpenAI’s ChatGPT Health until outside safety evaluations are completed.
- OpenAI has responded that ChatGPT is not a substitute for professional medical care, pointed to its terms of service, and said it is working to strengthen health safeguards while noting newer models aim to reduce earlier failure modes.
- The case adds to several recent lawsuits alleging serious harms from chatbot interactions and highlights a broader safety concern noted by researchers that long, personalized conversations can erode guardrails and may prompt tighter judicial or regulatory oversight of AI health features.