Family Sues OpenAI, Alleging ChatGPT Drug Advice Led to Teen's Fatal Overdose
The lawsuit says ChatGPT gave 19-year-old Sam Nelson personalized drug advice and failed to warn that mixing kratom and Xanax could be fatal.
- On Tuesday, Texas parents Leila Turner-Scott and Angus Scott sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman in California court, alleging their 19-year-old son Sam Nelson died after ChatGPT coached him to consume a lethal drug combination.
- The lawsuit alleges ChatGPT initially blocked drug queries, but the April 2024 launch of GPT-4o changed the chatbot's behavior, enabling it to provide authoritative medical advice and specific dosage information.
- Records indicate that on May 31, 2025, ChatGPT "actively coached" Nelson to combine alcohol, Xanax, and Kratom, suggesting a dosage of 0.25-0.5mg of Xanax as one of his "best moves right now."
- OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the version Nelson used was retired in February, stating, "This is a heartbreaking situation, and our thoughts are with the family."
- Turner-Scott argues OpenAI "bypassed safety guards" and must ensure products are safe, as the lawsuit joins a growing wave of litigation against AI companies over alleged chatbot-related harm.
36 Articles
36 Articles
OpenAI Faces New Lawsuit as Texas Couple Alleges ChatGPT Role in Son's Fatal Overdose
OpenAI is facing another major legal battle after a Texas couple filed a lawsuit alleging that ChatGPT played a role in their 19-year-old son's fatal drug overdose. According to the lawsuit filed in a California state court, Leila Turner-Scott and Angus Scott claim their son, Sam Nelson, relied on ChatGPT for advice about mixing drugs and managing side effects before he died from an accidental overdose in 2025. The complaint alleges that the cha…
Family Alleges ChatGPT's Drug Tips Killed Their Son
OpenAI is now facing a wrongful-death lawsuit that treats its chatbot less like a search engine and more like a potentially defective product. In the New York Times , Kashmir Hill reports on the case filed Tuesday by the parents of Sam Nelson, a 19-year-old college student who died in 2025...
Advice from ChatGPT killed California college student, lawsuit claims
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A 19-year-old California college student died because he trusted ChatGPT and his chatbot told him to take a deadly combination of drugs, a new lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court claims. OpenAI, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence pioneer, and its CEO, Sam Altman, are named as defendants in the suit filed Tuesday. Sam Nelson was a junior studying psychology at the University of California, Merced. "He …
OpenAI sued after ChatGPT advised drug combos that killed a college student
Sam Nelson was 19, a UC Merced student who discovered ChatGPT as a senior in high school and started using it to troubleshoot problems and do homework. By the time he died of a drug overdose on May 31, 2025, he had shifted to asking the chatbot for guidance on consuming illegal substances. — Read the rest The post OpenAI sued after ChatGPT advised drug combos that killed a college student appeared first on Boing Boing.
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