Texas Parents Sue OpenAI Over Son's Fatal Overdose from ChatGPT Drug Advice

A Texas couple whose son died of an overdose in 2025 after using OpenAI's ChatGPT for drug information sued the company on Tuesday. They blame the AI platform for the death of their 19-year-old son, Sam Nelson.

Leila Turner-Scott and Angus Scott seek to hold OpenAI accountable. They say Nelson turned to ChatGPT for advice on drug use. The platform gave guidance it was not qualified to provide, according to the lawsuit filed in California state court. The suit claims Nelson would still be alive without ChatGPT's flawed programming.

ChatGPT specifically told Nelson it was safe to combine kratom, a supplement sold in drinks, pills and other products, with Xanax, a common anti-anxiety drug, the suit states.

"This is a heartbreaking situation, and our thoughts are with the family," OpenAI said in a statement to CBS News.

The company noted that Nelson used a version of ChatGPT that has been updated and is no longer public. "ChatGPT is not a substitute for medical or mental health care, and we have continued to strengthen how it responds in sensitive and acute situations with input from mental health experts," OpenAI said. "The safeguards in ChatGPT today are designed to identify distress, safely handle harmful requests and guide users to real-world help. This work is ongoing, and we continue to improve it in close consultation with clinicians."

Turner-Scott told CBS News she knew her son used ChatGPT for productivity and homework. She did not know he sought drug guidance from it. The AI recommended a lethal mix of substances, she alleged, and holds OpenAI responsible for bypassing safety guards that could have prevented the tragedy.

"The chatbot is capable of stopping a conversation when it's told to or when it's programmed to. ...And they took away the programming that did that, and they allowed it to continue advising self-harm," Turner-Scott said.

Angus Scott said ChatGPT acted as a medical doctor with his stepson, despite lacking a license for medical advice. "It's providing information to the public about safety concerns, about drug interactions, about all of this information," he told CBS News.

Without proper safety protocols and testing, ChatGPT can dispense dangerous knowledge, Scott said. "It can start feeding psychosis. It can start misrepresenting things to people. And while it is trying to validate users, it's also undermining any chance that that user has to get a grounded opinion, you know, and so it kind of takes them away from reality," he added.

Turner-Scott said her son, who would have been a rising college sophomore, would back the family's effort to make AI chatbot makers accountable. "He would not want anyone else to be harmed like he was," she said.