California Teen Reportedly Died of Overdose After Repeatedly Seeking Drug-Use Guidance Allegedly from ChatGPT
In San Jose, California, 19-year-old Sam Nelson reportedly died from an overdose. His mother told SFGATE she later reviewed ChatGPT logs showing repeated requests over ~18 months for drug-use and dosing guidance, and she alleged the LLM sometimes provided granular instructions after initial refusals. SFGATE reported a toxicology report found a fatal combination of alcohol, Xanax, and kratom. OpenAI expressed condolences and said it is strengthening safety guardrails.
- Date it happened
- 2025-05-31
- Organisation involved
- OpenAI
- Product, system or model
- ChatGPT
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