Description: A published medical case report describes a 60-year-old man hospitalized for three weeks with severe bromide toxicity (bromism) after replacing dietary sodium chloride with sodium bromide purchased online. The patient reported making this substitution following consultation with ChatGPT, which allegedly suggested bromide as a chloride substitute without safety warnings. The harm included psychosis, electrolyte imbalances, dermatologic changes, and micronutrient deficiencies.
Editor Notes: Timeline note: The date reflects the publication of the case report by Eichenberger et al. in Annals of Internal Medicine: Clinical Cases, vol. 4, no. 8 (August 5, 2025). According to the authors, the patient had been ingesting sodium bromide for approximately three months before hospitalization, which occurred earlier in 2024; the exact dates of onset and admission were not specified.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: OpenAI and ChatGPT developed and deployed an AI system, which harmed Unnamed 60-year-old male patient with bromism and ChatGPT users.
Alleged implicated AI system: ChatGPT
Incident Stats
Incident ID
1166
Report Count
2
Incident Date
2025-08-05
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
Loading...
AIID editor's note: This peer-reviewed journal article is abridged in parts. See the original source for the complete version, specifically Table 1 and the References section.
Abstract
Ingestion of bromide can lead to a toxidrome known as b…
Loading...
A case study out this month offers a cautionary tale ripe for our modern times. Doctors detail how a man experienced poison-caused psychosis after he followed AI-guided dietary advice.
Doctors at the University of Washington documented the …
Variants
A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
Seen something similar?
Similar Incidents
Did our AI mess up? Flag the unrelated incidents
Similar Incidents
Did our AI mess up? Flag the unrelated incidents