Description: 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 Notes: 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.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: OpenAI , Chatbot developers and Large language model developers developed an AI system deployed by Brett Michael Dadig and OpenAI, which harmed Women , Women targeted by stalking , Stalking victims , Victims of interstate threats and Privacy.
Alleged implicated AI systems: ChatGPT , Chatbots , Large language models and OpenAI large language models
Incident Stats
Incident ID
1506
Report Count
2
Incident Date
2025-05-01
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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This article was produced in collaboration with 404 Media, a new independent technology investigations site.
A Pittsburgh man who allegedly made 11 women's lives hell across more than five states used ChatGPT as his "therapist" and "best fr…
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United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, United States Department of Justice post-incident response
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - A resident of Whitehall Borough, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court on March 19, 2026, to charges of cyberstalking, interstate stalking, and interstate threats, United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced toda…
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.
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