Nippon Life Insurance sued OpenAI alleging ChatGPT acted as an unlicensed attorney by helping a former disability claimant reopen a settled case and file dozens of meritless motions.
Nippon Life Insurance Company of America filed a lawsuit on March 4, 2026 in Chicago federal court against OpenAI Foundation and OpenAI Group PBC, alleging ChatGPT engaged in unauthorized practice of law. The case involves Graciela Dela Torre, an employee of a logistics firm insured through Nippon, who uploaded correspondence from her former lawyer into ChatGPT in 2024. The chatbot allegedly validated her concerns, encouraged her to fire her attorney, and helped her pursue reopening a disability benefits case that had already been settled and dismissed with prejudice in January 2024. After a judge denied that bid in February 2025, ChatGPT allegedly drafted a new lawsuit and dozens of subsequent motions and notices that Nippon contends had 'no legitimate legal or procedural purpose.' The lawsuit seeks $300,000 in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages, claiming violations of Illinois's unauthorized practice of law statute, tortious interference with contract, and abuse of process. OpenAI amended its usage policies in October 2024 to bar users from seeking legal advice via the platform, but Nippon argues this came too late. OpenAI responded that 'this complaint lacks any merit whatsoever.'
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Inadequate regulatory frameworks and oversight mechanisms that fail to keep pace with AI development, leading to ineffective governance and the inability to manage AI risks appropriately.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
