ChatGPT medical advice allegedly led man to brink of death, raising fresh AI liability questions

A 55-year-old former pastor from Florida is suing OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging that ChatGPT gave him months of medical advice that nearly killed him. The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court on July 22, 2026, claims that ChatGPT-4o repeatedly reassured Scott Winters that his symptoms were “not something dangerous,” even as a pulmonary embolism was quietly building toward a crisis. What the lawsuit actually says According to the complaint, Winters relied on ChatGPT for health-related questions over a period of months in 2025. The chatbot allegedly told him his symptoms weren’t cause for alarm. Friends apparently urged him to see a doctor. ChatGPT, per the lawsuit, contradicted those suggestions. In July 2025, Winters suffered a near-fatal pulmonary embolism. The delayed treatment, the lawsuit argues, was a direct consequence of the chatbot’s reassurances. Winters claims the fallout extended well beyond the hospital. He says he lost his ministry, his career, and his home as a result of the medical emergency and its aftermath. The legal team behind the case includes Tech Justice Law and the Social Media Victims Law Center. The claims range from product liability to ne...