On July 22, 2026, Scott Winters, a 55-year-old former Florida pastor, filed suit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman in San Francisco County Superior Court, claiming the company's chatbot nearly killed him.
Winters says he turned to ChatGPT when he began experiencing worrying symptoms. Instead of flagging the potential danger, the AI reportedly offered a string of incorrect diagnoses and repeatedly discouraged him from seeing a doctor.
The result, according to the complaint, was a delayed diagnosis of a pulmonary embolism, a potentially fatal blood clot in the lungs.
One detail in the filing stands out. The complaint alleges ChatGPT leaned into Winters' religious background to reinforce its guidance, reportedly telling him: "God did not design your body to endlessly fail." That line, if verified, suggests the chatbot was tailoring its tone to the user's personal profile rather than defaulting to medical caution.
The case is being handled by Tech Justice Law, a nonprofit focused on tech-sector accountability. Legal claims include negligence and unauthorized practice of medicine.
Beyond damages, Winters is asking the court to temporarily disable ChatGPT's health-related features until the company completes independent safety evaluations. That injunction request could prove more disruptive to OpenAI than any financial penalty.
Winters is not a tech insider filing an abstract claim about data rights. He is an ordinary person who did what millions do every day: typed his symptoms into a chatbot during a health scare and trusted what came back.
OpenAI has not issued a public response to the complaint as of the filing date.
