OpenAI faces lawsuit alleging unsafe medical advice from ChatGPT

A Florida man has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the company’s ChatGPT chatbot provided medical advice that led to a life-threatening health episode. The plaintiff, Scott Winters, says the AI dismissed his symptoms of dizziness and fatigue as non-serious and discouraged him from seeking professional care, later diagnosing him with dysautonomia and offering a recovery plan. Winters, a pastor, reportedly uploaded lab results and X-rays to the chatbot and claims the system interwove religious references into its guidance.

According to the complaint, Winters was later hospitalized in intensive care after doctors discovered a pulmonary embolism, and the lawsuit argues that the chatbot’s recommendations contributed to the crisis. The filing accuses OpenAI and its chief executive of negligence and the unauthorized practice of medicine, and it seeks punitive damages as well as an injunction that would bar the company from offering consumer-facing health-related AI products without an explicit warning about potential risks.

OpenAI has not commented on the case. A spokesperson told the New York Times that the company’s terms of service state that ChatGPT is not intended for diagnosis or treatment, and that newer model versions incorporate improved safety features. The firm also notes that health-related queries are among the most common uses of ChatGPT, with hundreds of millions of such questions asked weekly.

Medical groups have warned that AI chatbots should not replace professional care. The American Medical Association’s Center for Digital Health and AI has urged legislators to establish safeguards ensuring AI tools complement, rather than substitute, physician guidance. The Mayo Clinic cautioned that AI can appear confident even when incorrect and may reflect biases from its training data, recommending that users treat chatbot output as informational rather than diagnostic.

The lawsuit also references other pending cases alleging that ChatGPT contributed to suicides and delusional thinking, which OpenAI has denied. A recent study published in the Journal of American Medicine found that roughly one in eight U.S. adolescents and young adults have used AI chatbots for mental-health advice.