A man who claims ChatGPT’s medical advice “brought him to the brink of death” has sued OpenAI, the company behind the popular chatbot, and its founder Sam Altman.
The lawsuit filed by Scott Winters, a 55-year-old Florida pastor, alleges that ChatGPT advised him not to seek medical help after he repeatedly asked about symptoms approaching a near-fatal pulmonary embolism.
Winters’ lawyers said the platform “repeatedly and persistently misdiagnosed him” by relying on previous discussions about religion to reassure him that he would recover.
OpenAI’s Drew Pusateri told US BBC news partner CBS News that “ChatGPT is not a doctor and should never be used as a substitute for medical care, diagnosis or treatment.”
He also said people typically search for health information online, adding, “AI can enhance that experience by helping them find clearer answers, organize their questions and prepare for conversations with health care professionals.”
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court on July 21, details how Winter was a regular user of ChatGPT and came to rely on it for medical advice, resisting attempts by family and friends to force him to go to the hospital.
A few weeks before he became seriously ill, he consulted the instrument for recurring bouts of dizziness and “bouts of blood pressure instability.”
In one response, the lawsuit alleges, ChatGPT advised Winters to remain in the reclining chair in which he was “primarily confined” due to ongoing health problems.
Court documents say Winters suffered a “massive pulmonary embolism due to multiple blood clots in both lungs that brought him to the brink of death, which his doctors believed was likely due to his immobility.”
Screenshots of messages Winters allegedly had with ChatGPT show the chatbot combining medical advice with references to the 55-year-old’s deep Christian faith.
The lawsuit alleges that ChatGPT told Winters, “God did not design your body to fail indefinitely.” It also said, “God still holds your body together, every heartbeat, every breath, even when it feels like you’re on the edge.”
Winters’ lawyers argue that “ChatGPT’s sycophantic nature and authoritarian tone, coupled with Scott’s manipulation of his religious identity, fostered a dangerous dependence on the tool.”
They say it “impaired Scott’s ability to make sound decisions, isolated him from family members who urged him to seek medical help, and convinced him that seeking medical help was unnecessary and even potentially fatal.”
Elsewhere in the suit, Winter is described as a “vulnerable” man whose addiction to ChatGPT caused him to lose his home and career and required “years of intense physical and psychological recovery.”
The lawsuit says Winters is seeking financial damages and a court order to force OpenAI to implement “reasonable security measures that protect other users from harm.”
ChatGPT’s terms of use stipulate that users should not treat the platform as the “sole source of truth,” especially where it could “have a legal or material impact on that person, such as in making decisions about credit, education, employment, housing, insurance, legal, medical, or other important decisions about that person.”