DHS Asks OpenAI to Unmask User Behind ChatGPT Prompts, Possibly the First Such Case

The federal government has long leaned on tech companies to fork over user data to aide in its law enforcement investigations. However, while social media companies, search engines, and other tech platforms have all surrendered data in the pursuit of federal probes, AI companies have largely remained an untouched frontier, legally speaking—until now, that is.

Forbes writes that a unit within the Department of Homeland Security that investigates child sex crimes has asked OpenAI to turn over information about a user that they say is the administrator of a child abuse website. The person in question discussed their use of ChatGPT with an undercover agent on the child abuse site, which spurred the government to ask the company for records that might assist with their case.

Forbes refers to this as the “first known federal search warrant asking OpenAI for user data†and says it discovered the case by reviewing court records unsealed in Maine last week.

The prompts that the user entered into ChatGPT seem to be completely disconnected from the crimes they’re accused of committing. Forbes writes that, among other things, they involved a question about Star Trek and an AI-generated poem composed in “Trump-styleâ€:

The suspect then disclosed some prompts and responses they had received, detailing an apparently innocuous discussion that began with, “What would happen if Sherlock Holmes met Q from Star Trek?†In another discussion, the suspect said they’d received a response from ChatGPT for an unspecified request about a 200,000-word poem, receiving in response “a sample excerpt of a humorous, Trump-style poem about his love for the Village People’s Y.M.C.A., written in that over-the-top, self-aggrandizing, stream-of-consciousness style he’s known for.†They then copied and pasted that poem.

Forbes also notes that the DHS has not asked OpenAI for any identifying information, as the government already believes it has identified the criminal in question. According to the criminal complaint against the suspect, undercover agents used context clues pieced together from ongoing conversations with the user to put together a profile on who he might be. Those context clues included comments he allegedly made while speaking with the undercover agent, including his desire to join the military, the places he’d lived (and visited), a favorite restaurant, and his work for a military base, among other things. Those clues led investigators to believe that he was a 36-year-old man who had previously worked on a U.S. Air Force base in Germany, Forbes notes.

The search warrant that is the basis for much of Forbes’ reporting appears to have since been sealed. However, the criminal complaint against the suspect is still public. An excerpt of that complaint reads, partially: “In several conversations occurring between SUSPECT USER and the UC [undercover agent] in July 2025 and August 2025, SUSPECT USER indicated that he was too overweight to be considered for employment by the military. Agents were informed by the military recruiters that when†the suspect in question “first came for an initial interview it was approximately June or July 2025,†and he “was over the acceptable weight for an individual of his height. Subsequent more recent conversations between SUSPECT USER and the UC indicated that SUSPECT USER had made progress on that front, and military recruiters likewise indicated to agents†that the suspect “was now within military guidelines.â€

Gizmodo reached out to the suspect’s attorney, and to OpenAI, for comment.

Federal law enforcement has routinely looked to gather data for investigations from other tech platforms and AI companies are giant troves of user information, so it makes perfect sense that law enforcement agencies would also seem them as an important tool when it comes to fighting crime. This is surely just the beginning of AI chatbots’ use in that capacity.