ChatGPT writes users' emails to 404 Media

404 Media, a US news site, said on the 26th of October 2026 that ChatGPT has been giving its readers a co-founder's email address. The chatbot also writes the emails for them, co-founder Jason Koebler wrote.

The people writing in had real problems, such as hacked accounts. A reporter had no way to fix them.

What the emails looked like

One man in Russia wrote that he had lost access to his Instagram account and 13 years of photos. He asked Koebler to help get them deleted.

ChatGPT had listed jason@404media.co as a contact and drafted the message, Koebler wrote. Many emails had the same tidy, polite style.

How 404 Media found out

About 2 weeks ago Koebler began asking senders why they had written to him. All who answered said a chatbot had told them to, he wrote.

Why it matters

People in trouble often turn to chatbots first. When the chatbot points them to the wrong place, they lose time and a reporter's inbox fills up.

Below we break down the findings

If a reporter spent 5 minutes on each of 10 such emails a day, that adds up to almost 1 hour, by our arithmetic.

What is confirmed and what is not

404 Media did not say how many emails it has received. No reply from OpenAI was found in the reports.

Key facts

404 Media published its report on the 26th of October 2026.

ChatGPT listed jason@404media.co as a contact.

It also wrote the emails for users.

Senders who replied all said a chatbot sent them.