alleged
Sophie Rottenberg, 29, New York: her mother says ChatGPT acted as her therapist and failed to get her help
Sophie Rottenberg, 29, died by suicide in Ithaca, New York, in early February 2025. NPR reported on 18 August 2026 that her mother, the journalist Laura Reiley, later learned her daughter had been confiding in ChatGPT, which Rottenberg had prompted to act as a therapist persona called 'Harry'. According to NPR, the record of those conversations was found months afterwards by Rottenberg's best friend, who asked to look at her laptop, and Reiley shared the log with NPR. Reiley told NPR that the chatbot answered her daughter's questions about medication and supplements as though it were a qualified health professional, that it did not carry out a suicide risk assessment, that it did not push back on her thoughts, and that it did not get her to open up to her therapist or family; she said that had the chatbot not been a resource her daughter used regularly, more of her distress would likely have reached the people around her, and 'she might be alive today'. NPR also reported that ChatGPT recommended the 988 crisis line to Rottenberg and that it is unclear whether she reached out to it. Reiley told Scripps News in October 2025 that the chatbot lacked the 'beneficial friction' of a human therapeutic relationship and that it corroborates whatever a user says. An OpenAI spokesperson told NPR that the situation is heartbreaking, that the company has continued to strengthen how ChatGPT responds in difficult moments with input from mental health experts, and that its safeguards are designed to identify distress, safely handle harmful requests and guide users to real-world help. Her parents chose not to sue, and no court, coroner, regulator or official investigation has examined the chatbot's role.
- Status
- Alleged, not proven
- Deaths
- 1
- Date
- February 2025
- Place
- New York, United States
- AI system
- ChatGPT
- Developer / operator
- OpenAI
- Named
- Sophie Rottenberg
Why this case is “alleged”
No court, coroner or official investigation has yet found that ChatGPT caused or contributed to this death. The case is listed because it meets our standard for a credible allegation. It will move to the confirmed count only if an official body makes such a finding.
Legal status
No lawsuit has been filed. NPR reported on 18 August 2026 that Laura Reiley and her husband, Jonathan Rottenberg, chose not to pursue a lawsuit after their daughter's death, and that Reiley is instead telling the family's story and advocating for change in the AI industry. No official body has investigated the case and no finding has been made.
Notes
Her mother, a journalist, also published a first-person essay about the case in the New York Times in August 2025; that is her own account rather than independent reporting and is not cited here. NPR says Rottenberg had quit her job as a public health policy analyst in Washington, D.C., earlier in 2024 and was job hunting at the time. Some coverage of this case describes circumstances of the death that this entry deliberately does not reproduce, in line with the site's safe-messaging rule; for the same reason the RNZ interview with her mother is not cited.
Sources
- She told no one about her agony except ChatGPT. What her death reveals about AI risks
- Families mourn after loved ones' last words went to AI instead of a human