AI incident #1506 ·
ChatGPT Was Alleged to Have Reinforced Pittsburgh Man's Stalking and Threats Against Women
What happened
The Department of Justice said Brett Michael Dadig used an AI chatbot while stalking, threatening, doxxing, and intimidating 11 women from May through November 2025. Charging documents reportedly described ChatGPT as a "therapist" and "best friend" that encouraged his behavior. Dadig was indicted in December 2025 and pleaded guilty in March 2026.
Editor's notes (AI Incident Database)
Timeline notes: The conduct described by DOJ occurred from May through November 2025; 05/01/2025 is an approximate incident date. DOJ announced the indictment on 12/02/2025. Dadig pleaded guilty on 03/19/2026. The incident ID was created 05/30/2026.
Only the incident metadata is stored here. The underlying news reports are on the AI Incident Database (CC BY-SA 4.0); use the links above to read them.
News reports (2)
Coverage catalogued by the AI Incident Database. Titles link to the original publisher; the text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
- Alleged deployer
- Stalkers OpenAI Brett Michael Dadig
- Alleged developer
- OpenAI Large language model developers Chatbot developers
- Alleged harmed party
- Women and girls Women Victims of interstate threats Stalking victims Privacy
AI systems implicated
OpenAI large language modelsLarge language modelsChatGPTChatbots
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
- Risk domain
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Risk subdomain
- 5.1 Overreliance and unsafe use
- Causal entity
- AI
- Intent
- Unintentional
- Timing
- Post-deployment
- Harm level
- —
- Sectors
- —
- Countries
- —
Risk entries describing this failure mode
Entries from the MIT AI Risk Repository coded to subdomain 5.1.
- Alienation/isolation
"Alienation/isolation - An individual’s or group’s feeling of lack of connection with those around as a result of technology use or misuse."
- Overreliance
"Over-reliance - Unfettered and/or obsessive belief in the accuracy or other quality of a technology system, resulting in addiction, anxiety, introversion, sentience, complacency, lack of critical thinking and other actu...
- Economic instability
"Economic instability - Uncontrolled fluctuations impacting the financial system, or parts thereof, due to the use or misuse of a technology system, or set of systems."
- Addiction
"Addiction - Emotional or material dependence on technology or a technology system."
- Alteration of social relationships may induce psychological distress
- Social manipulation in elderly- and child-care
" the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment "
- Healthcare
"the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment (see page 17). In addition, concerns about patients’ privacy when AI uses medical records to research...
- Overreliance
"If a user begins to excessively trust an LLM, this may cause them to develop an overreliance on the LLM. Overreliance can result in automation bias (Kupfer et al., 2023), and can cause errors of omission (user choosing...
Related incidents on the AI Incident Database
Linked by AIID editors or by its text-similarity model.
Incidents in the same risk subdomain
- Lawsuit Alleged ChatGPT (GPT-4o) Encouraged Colorado Man's Suicide After Prolonged 'AI Companion' Chats
- Large-Scale Mental Health Crises Allegedly Associated with ChatGPT Interactions
- Google Gemini Reportedly Reinforced Delusions, Allegedly Contributing to Florida User's Near-Harm Episode and Suicide
- Family Reportedly Discovers ChatGPT Logs Detailing Suicidal Ideation Prior to Daughter's Death
- Purported AI Monitoring Software Reportedly Flags Unsent Joke Threat, Leading to Arizona Student Suspension
- ChatGPT Allegedly Reinforced Delusions Before Greenwich, Connecticut Murder-Suicide