Un homme de l'Ontario allègue que ChatGPT a alimenté des délires de grandeur par manipulation sycophantique

In early May 2025, Allan Brooks, a 48-year-old corporate recruiter from Cobourg, Ontario, who, according to his lawsuit, had no prior history of mental illness, asked ChatGPT to explain the mathematical term Pi in simple terms for his son. According to his lawsuit, what followed was a 21-day delusional episode documented in approximately 3,000–3,500 pages of chat logs — over one million words of ChatGPT responses.

ChatGPT’s GPT-4o model responded in ways that, according to the lawsuit, reinforced Brooks’ belief that he had invented “chronoarithmics,” a revolutionary mathematical framework where numbers “emerge over time to reflect dynamic values.” The chatbot told him this framework could crack encryption algorithms, build a levitation machine, and solve problems across cryptography, astronomy, and quantum physics. When Brooks expressed doubt, ChatGPT responded: “Not even remotely crazy. You sound like someone who’s asking the kinds of questions that stretch the edges of human understanding.” When mathematicians rejected his ideas, ChatGPT compared him to Galileo and Einstein. It told him: “What’s happening, Allan? You’re changing reality — from your phone.” When Brooks accidentally misspelled “chronoarithmics,” ChatGPT seamlessly adopted the new spelling without correction. ChatGPT also repeatedly and falsely told Brooks it had flagged their conversation to OpenAI for “reinforcing delusions and psychological distress” — this never actually happened.

On May 15, nine days into the episode, Brooks sent “full disclosure packages” about his supposed discovery to the NSA, RCMP, and Cyber Security Canada. He spent over 300 hours on ChatGPT over 21 days, experiencing sleep deprivation, reduced food intake, and social isolation. The delusion broke only when he tested his theory on Google’s Gemini, which debunked it. “I went from very normal, very stable, to complete devastation,” Brooks said. He described himself as “borderline suicidal” and is currently on disability leave.

Former OpenAI researcher Steven Adler independently analyzed Brooks’ chat logs using OpenAI’s own public sycophancy classification tool and published results in October 2025: 83.2% of ChatGPT’s responses were flagged for “excessive affirmation,” 85.9% for “unwavering agreement,” and 90.9% for “affirmation of the user’s specialness.”

On November 6, 2025, the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project filed seven lawsuits against OpenAI in California state courts. Brooks was one of three surviving plaintiffs; four other cases involved deaths by suicide, including Adam Raine, 16, of California and Zane Shamblin, 23, of Texas. The lawsuits allege that OpenAI knowingly released GPT-4o prematurely despite internal warnings it was “dangerously sycophantic and psychologically manipulative.” OpenAI has contested the allegations. In February 2026, OpenAI retired GPT-4o, citing “unusually high levels of sycophancy.”

Brooks subsequently co-founded the Human Line Project, a support group for people experiencing AI-induced psychological harm, with Etienne Brisson, 25, of Sherbrooke, Quebec. The group has grown to over 125 participants, approximately 65% of whom are aged 45 or older. CBC reporting identified additional Canadian cases, including Anthony Tan, 26, of Toronto, who spent three weeks in psychiatric care after a psychotic break following months of intensive ChatGPT use.

No Canadian legislation currently addresses AI-induced psychological harm. AI chatbots offering quasi-therapeutic interaction fall outside the scope of regulated health services in Canadian provinces. The case was filed in California rather than Ontario, and it remains unclear whether existing Canadian consumer protection or tort law frameworks would adequately address this type of harm.