Sam Nelson was a 19 year old University of California, Merced student. He was majoring in psychology. Sam died of an accidental drug overdose on May 31, 2025. 

A couple of hours before his death, Sam had asked ChatGPT whether mixing Kratom and Xanax was safe. ChatGPT replied saying it was safe to do so.

Sam had developed a close relationship with the AI bot and used it for everything from pop culture to homework.

"Just hours before Sam died, ChatGPT had advised him that it was safe to mix kratom and Xanax," Sam’s  mother testified in front of Congress.

Leila Turner-Scott, Sam’s mother, found around 700 chat logs in Sam’s phone. She went through all the chats and alleged that earlier, when Sam used to ask question to the tool regarding drugs it would not answer his question and close the chat. However, to increase user engagement, an upgraded model was introduced, which seemed to disregard safety and wellbeing of the user.

"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 told CBS News.

Sam’s parents sued OpenAI, ChatGPT’s parent company, over allegations of misguiding their son to use different drug products and helping him with their dosage for getting high.

The Artificial Intelligence company responded to the above allegations by saying, "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 company further added, “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."

The company also stated that on many occasions ChatGPT encouraged Sam to seek professional help, including calling emergency hotlines.

Turner-Scott pleaded in front of Congress at ‘The Big Tech and Surveillance AI Shadow Hearing’, convened by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Seattle. 

Shadow Hearings are public meetings called by the party outside of power and therefore not part of a formal committee. Jayapal described the AI industry as a monopolistic group that was out of control and harming the public with AI “monsters that we cannot even control.”

The hearing also included testimony from Jason Sattizahn, a former Meta user engagement researcher who left the company in 2024. He later went on to become a whistleblower who said the social media company had covered up the dangers of its products.

“We were given an edict to focus on engagement above safety for every AI-integrated product and to focus on the integration of AI into the products themselves,” Sattizahn said during Thursday’s hearing.

Turner-Scott said that her son was a loving person. He was just like others, a healthy normal kid, who wanted to major in psychology and help others. She read in his chat logs that he always asked ChatGPT if the drug combination was safe to consume. That means he wanted to live. ChatGPT posed as his friend and well-wisher and enticed him into believing everything that it said.

Kratom is derived from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tropical tree.¹ Traditionally, people in Southeast Asia have used its leaves to fight fatigue and improve work productivity, as well as for conditions such as pain and diarrhea.¹

In lower doses, it can act like a stimulant, whereas in higher doses, it can cause sedative effects similar to opioids. ¹

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers about kratom and states that it is not lawfully marketed in the U.S. as a drug, dietary supplement, or food additive.² Kratom’s major compounds interact with opioid receptors in the brain.¹

Fatal overdoses from kratom alone appear to be extremely rare. The use of kratom in combination with other drugs has been linked to deaths and severe adverse effects, although more research is needed on kratom-drug interactions.¹

Xanax and kratom work on different receptors, but both end up doing similar things to your brain and body.

At higher doses, Kratom produces sedative effects. Xanax also has a similar effect. On consumption, it slows down neural activity throughout the nervous system. ³

When you consume both together, their effects overlap and can lead to overdose or death.

Extreme drowsiness, slurred speech, confusion, nausea paired with tremors are early indicators. More serious signs include slowed or shallow breathing, a weak or irregular heartbeat, and difficulty staying conscious. Seizures have also been reported in such cases. ⁴ Immediately reach out to a medical specialist if you observe these symptoms.

1. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. “Kratom.” National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Last updated April 2022. Accessed September 21, 2026. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/kratom

2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “FDA and Kratom.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed September 21, 2026. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/public-health-focus/fda-and-kratom

3. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “XANAX (alprazolam) Tablets, for Oral Use, CIV: Prescribing Information.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Revised 2023. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2023/021434s022lbl.pdf

4. Kang, M., et al. “Benzodiazepine Toxicity.” StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing, updated 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482238/

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