Mom Who Claims ChatGPT Gave Her Teen Drug Advice Before His Fatal Overdose Gives Emotional Plea to Congress for AI Safety Laws

Mom Who Claims ChatGPT Gave Her Teen Drug Advice Before His Fatal Overdose Gives Emotional Plea to Congress for AI Safety Laws https://ift.tt/jYXp6m2

“You are the ones who have the power to keep this from happening to someone else’s child,” Leila Turner-Scott said before Congress on Sept. 17

Leila Turner-Scott (third from right) testifying before Congress on Sept. 17, 2026
Credit: Representative Pramila Jayapal/Youtube

NEED TO KNOW

• Leila Turner-Scott told Congress that her 19-year-old son, Sam Nelson, died from an accidental overdose after allegedly receiving unsafe guidance from ChatGPT
• Turner-Scott said she reviewed hundreds of her son’s chats and believes ChatGPT repeatedly minimized drug risks, gave dosage guidance and used personalized responses that encouraged emotional dependence
• She urged lawmakers to impose stricter AI regulations during her testimony

The mother of a teen who claims her son died from an accidental overdose after following advice from ChatGPT urged the government to create stricter regulations around AI in emotional testimony before Congress.

Leila Turner-Scott spoke before a congressional committee during a hearing on the future of AI policy held in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Sept. 17.

During her testimony, Turner-Scott said that her son, Sam Nelson, died of an overdose in his bedroom on May 31, 2025, at the age of 19.

Speaking about her son, she described him as “brilliant, loyal” and “really funny” and recalled his love of animals. She also shared that Sam was in college majoring in psychology at the time of his death.

Person using ChatGPT (stock image)
Credit: Cheng Xin/Getty

“He was just a normal kid,” she said. “He really wanted to help people.”

She said Sam died “at home in his room from a mixture of kratom, Xanax and alcohol toxicity.”

The teen’s mother alleged that just hours before his death, he had asked ChatGPT if it was safe to combine kratom — an herbal substance — and Xanax, and that ChatGPT told him it was safe to do so.

“It is not,” Turner-Scott told the committee during her testimony.

Turner-Scott went on to say that she had reviewed all of her son’s messages with ChatGPT following his death, and that she believes the software misinformed Sam about safety risks associated with drug use on multiple occasions — as well as encouraged him to take drugs through specifically tailored messages.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT
Credit: Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty

“ChatGPT gave my child detailed and explicit dosage instructions in order to help him get high,” she testified, adding that when Sam asked whether particular amounts or combinations were safe, the chatbot would tell him “he would be okay.”

“Sam was trying to be safe,” she said. “He wanted to live.”

She also criticized ChatGPT’s memory features, alleging it allowed the system to build a profile of her son and respond in ways that encouraged emotional dependence.

“It often responded with things like, ‘I’ve got your back,’ ‘You can talk to me about anything,’ and even ‘I love you.’ He thought he was researching substances with this invention that — in his mind — had all of the information on the internet to generate accurate outputs and help keep him safe. But the goal of ChatGPT was not to keep Sam safe. It was only to keep him using the product,” she claimed.

“This technology is not safe,” she insisted. “It should not be able to provide medical and health advice without a license, or to collect and store user data that it can later use to create user dependency.”

Turner-Scott concluded her testimony with a plea to lawmakers to regulate artificial intelligence.

“You are the ones who have the power to keep this from happening to someone else’s child,” she said.

Turner-Scott and her family filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the company that owns and operates ChatGPT, in May, according to SFGate and CBS News.

In a statement to PEOPLE, a spokesperson for OpenAI called the situation “heartbreaking.”

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“These interactions took place on an earlier version of ChatGPT that is no longer available,” the spokesperson said. “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. 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.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.