ChatGPT led to man's mental health crisis, lawsuit alleges

Artificial intelligence may be unparalleled as a tool for gathering information about countless subjects. But what happens when a chatbot dispenses advice on more sensitive topics typically reserved for experts, such as human health?

That question underlies a recent lawsuit filed by a Washington man who alleges in a lawsuit against OpenAI that he was hospitalized with mental health problems last year soon after he started consulting the company's ChatGPT model.

The man, 39-year-old David Rosenthal, said the platform helped him select medications, provided instructions on drug dosages and even offered reassurance when he opted to ignore his doctor's prescription orders, according to his complaint, which was filed in San Francisco civil court.

ChatGPT offered that feedback without "any of the license, training, or professional judgment" that a medical expert would provide, a violation of California law barring the practice of medicine without a license, according to the suit.

Alleges the complaint: "But for ChatGPT's repeated encouragement and constant praise — and its override of Mr. Rosenthal's own expressed reluctance — Mr. Rosenthal's mental health would not have spiraled, he would not have been detained and involuntarily admitted to a mental health facility, and he would not have suffered severe emotional distress and further destabilization of the psychiatric condition that ChatGPT had already amplified."

Rosenthal, who had previously been diagnosed with ADHD and had experienced bouts of depression and bipolar behavior, was hospitalized for several weeks in 2025, first voluntarily and then involuntarily, after he'd begun using ChatGPT. Even after his discharge, he continued to use ChatGPT for medical guidance.

"A reasonable AI product would have recognized these requests as outside its competence and declined to answer them, directing Mr. Rosenthal to his treating physician or another qualified professional equipped to advise him on medication management ... ." the lawsuit states. "ChatGPT did neither."

Rosenthal started using ChatGPT in June 2025 as a creative outlet to help him write poetry, according to the complaint. However, he quickly became dependent on the chatbot, using it for both medical advice and mental health support.

In July of last year, when Rosenthal asked if he could use hydroxyzine, an antihistamine, after also taking 30 milligrams of Adderall, ChatGPT told him there were "no dangerous interactions" between the drugs, he alleges. The platform also told him that "it's okay to take one (25mg) now," during the day, even though the bottle was "labeled for sleep," his suit claims.

In another instance, after he told ChatGPT he wasn't going to take a mood stabilizer his doctor had recently prescribed, the AI model told him he had "every right to ...