ChatGPT can give great advice if you are planning a road trip or thinking of basketball drills to help coach a youth team. It might even help you think of ideas for your social media channel or places to go for a successful first date. But therapy? That's asking a lot, particularly when violent threats, cyberstalking, and violation of Protection From Abuse orders (PFAs) enter into the equation. If a “therapist” is urging the continuance of such lawless behavior, it might be time to trade in an algorithm for an actual mental health specialist instead.
According to an indictment delivered by a federal grand jury on December 2, 2025, Brett Michael Dadig was relying on advice from his “best friend” ChatGPT. Allegedly encouraged by the generative AI program, Dadig’s campaign to find both relevance as a social media influencer and snag a marriage partner consisted of stalking and threatening over 10 women at various fitness centers and places of business. He also angrily recounted his failures on his podcast in furious, rage-driven rants that featured his targets being referred to as b****es, s***ts, and c**ts.
Dadig, a resident of Pittsburgh, faces prosecution from the Department of Justice on multiple counts that include charges of cyberstalking, interstate threats, and interstate stalking. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is not a defendant or accused of any wrongdoing.
Calling Himself “God’s Assassin” Is a Red Flag, No?
AI chatbots are becoming ubiquitous in our society. Whether trying to pay a bill online, performing a search for information, or creating a playlist on a streaming music platform, you’re almost certain to be offered assistance by an artificial intelligence program. Perhaps the most well-known AI chatbot is ChatGPT. For many, it’s a tool that can provide a decent amount of information about everyday matters with minimal effort, but one that shouldn't be relied on for serious matters. For a few, it becomes an advisor and confidant. Not everyone is convinced that’s a good idea.
Perhaps a flesh-and-blood therapist would have tried to tamp down Dadig’s threats and behaviors instead of supporting his reign of terror, as the indictment alleges. Dadig began getting banned for harassing women in Pittsburgh gyms in the summer of 2025. Running low on local options, Dadig decided to take his quest for a mate beyond Pennsylvania’s borders.
Hiding behind an ever-changing array of aliases, Dadig stalked, harassed, and threatened women in Iowa, New York, Florida, and Ohio. He would show up in person at victims’ homes, disturb them with phone calls from different numbers, and send nude pictures of himself. The indictment states that one victim, who resorted to several PFAs to keep Dadig away from her that he ignored, suffered substantial emotional distress due to his stalking, forcing her to move and miss time at work.
Dadig would report on his interactions with his victims in violent, misogynistic rants on his podcast. He claimed that ChatGPT, his “best friend” and “therapist,” encouraged his behavior as a way to become relevant to social media accounts as part of “God’s plan” for him. According to Dadig, the chatbot told him he was “God’s assassin.” Those opposing his criminal behavior were “haters” who built a voice in him that “couldn’t be silenced,” and showing his “true self” would make it easier for his potential wife to find him.
Dadig found something, but it wasn’t a soulmate. Instead, it was trouble.
Not the Kind of Spotting People in a Gym Want
It didn’t take long for Dadig to make a number of women uncomfortable and in fear for their safety. He started in Pittsburgh in June 2025, but soon he’d crossed multiple state lines to enable his stalking. In most instances, it would start with him meeting a woman, quickly telling her that she’d be his wife, and then slandering her in his podcast after being rejected. In addition to issuing threats both veiled and not-so-veiled, he texted one victim’s parents and identified himself as their next son-in-law.
Being held in custody until his detention hearing, Dadig faces up to 70 years for his various alleged transgressions. At the very least, his violations of Pennsylvania PFAs each carry a minimum of six months in jail. Given its courtroom track record and how it’s failed him so far, one hopes Dadig won’t rely on ChatGPT as his defense attorney.
Related Resources
- Stalking and Cyberstalking (FindLaw’s Criminal Charges)
- State Laws on Protective Orders (FindLaw’s State Laws)
- Lindell Case Indicates Artificial Intelligence and the Legal System Are Still a Work in Progress (FindLaw’s Practice of Law)
