She told no one about her agony except ChatGPT. What her death reveals about AI risks

A year before she died, Sophie Rottenberg climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. Her mother says her "tiny hand" photos were a signature joke. Mourners were given the toys at her funeral. She was 29. Reiley Rottenberg family hide caption

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 9 8 8 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Laura Reiley knew that her only daughter, 29-year-old Sophie Rottenberg, was struggling. It was the fall of 2024, and Rottenberg was at the end of a short career break.

"She was complaining of sleep disruption and anxiety," says Reiley, who lives in Ithaca, New York, with her husband.

Rottenberg had quit her job as a public health policy analyst in Washington D.C. earlier that year, and spent the summer traveling. She had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and hiked through several national parks in the United States. By the time she saw her parents, she was job hunting, which they assumed explained her anxiety.

She had always been a "driven, success-oriented person," says Reiley, so "we thought OK this makes sense — she's having some sleeplessness, some anxiety about her future."

But by Thanksgiving, her mental health had worsened. "It was the first time she used the word depression," says Reiley.

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In early February 2025, Sophie Rottenberg died by suicide in Ithaca, leaving her parents shocked and grieving.

"She really had not revealed the magnitude of what was going on — the real depth of her agony to anyone — not to us, not to her best friend with whom she was very close," says Reiley. "We were all just stunned that it hadn't bled out into her real life. Her flesh and blood therapist had no idea that she was suicidal."

Sophie Rottenberg with her parents, Jonathan Rottenberg and Laura Reiley. Reiley Rottenberg family hide caption

What Reiley didn't know then was that her daughter had been sharing all her inner struggles with an artificial intelligence chatbot: a ChatGPT therapist named Harry. She learned this months later when her daughter's best friend visited Ithaca and asked to see her laptop, and "found this trove, this months-long trove of communication with this chat bot," says Reiley, who has shared the nearly 1,800-page long interaction with NPR.

Rapid adoption, unknown risks

Rottenberg was among a growing number of Americans turning to general use chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude for mental health support, even though they are not marketed or regulated as a healthcare technology. One recent survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center found that 3 in 10 adults use digital tools for mental health, including chatbots. Another 2026 study in JAMA Pediatrics found that as many as 1 in 5 teens and young adults do the same.

According to data released by OpenAI last fall, in any given week 0.15% of ChatGPT users globally have "conversations that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent." That's over 1.35 million people expressing suicidal plans or intent to the chatbot every week, if the 900 million global users ChatGPT cites is an accurate count. In the United States, suicide remains a leading cause of death, and over half of surveyed adults say they have used chatbots like ChatGPT.

"It's clear that there is some cultural phenomenon happening in this country where people feel that they cannot turn to each other with their struggles because they feel that they are a burden," says psychologist Vaile Wright , senior director of Healthcare Innovations at the American Psychological Association (APA). "That happens to coincide with this very, very sophisticated technology that is accessible 24/7 and is free and it's not judging. That clearly has an appeal for a lot of people."

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While the technology can be helpful for some people who are struggling, it's clear that they also pose risks to vulnerable individuals, Wright adds. "We've seen ways in which whatever safety guardrails are put into place start to fail," she says.

Artificial intelligence companies are facing lawsuits by family members of individuals who died by suicide after prolonged interactions with chatbots. The lawsuits claim the chatbots led to or supported the individuals in their suicides. Reiley and her husband, Jonathan Rottenberg, chose not to pursue a lawsuit after their daughter's death. Instead, Reiley, a journalist, is telling her family's story and advocating for the AI industry to change.

AI has responded. Is it enough?

Companies like OpenAI say they are making their chatbots safer with respect to suicide risk. Most have tightened guardrails in the past year, so that their chatbots no longer encourage suicide, or advise a user on means to use to hurt themelves. OpenAI says it's working with mental health professionals to improve ChatGPT in terms of how it responds to users when they mention suicide.

"ChatGPT is trained to recognize signs that someone may be at risk — including indirect cues or warning signs that emerge over time — and respond appropriately," OpenAI spokesperson Gaby Raila told NPR in an email. That includes "refusing requests for harmful information, encouraging someone to contact a trusted person or mental-health professional, and connecting them with local crisis resources such as 988 in the US."

Raila refers to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which has been operational since 2022. ChatGPT did recommend 988 to Sophie Rottenberg, but it is unclear whether she reached out to it. And experts say a suggestion may not be enough.

"These [AI] tools do not connect at-risk people to the right type of interventions," says Holly Wilcox , director of the Center for Suicide Prevention at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "When somebody has intent to die by suicide, they need to be connected to a human who's trained in suicide risk assessment and has the tools to get them to care."

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Rottenberg's ChatGPT log illustrates how the chatbot failed to do that. And Reiley believes that the chatbot prevented her daughter from opening up to others about her struggle with suicidal thoughts.

"Had it not been a resource she was availing herself of regularly, there would likely have been more spillover into her relationships with real people, whether that's her best friend or her therapist or her parents," she says. "And she might be alive today."

Sophie and "Harry," the AI therapist

When Sophie Rottenberg's mental health began to unravel in the fall of 2024, she moved in with her parents in Ithaca. Sophie's dad, Jonathan Rottenberg, is a psychologist studying depression at Cornell University, and "has suffered from depression himself," Reiley says. So, "he felt supremely comfortable in helping her, in getting her to a better place."

He helped their daughter find a local therapist. He and Reiley connected her with doctors to get to the bottom of some physical health problems she was struggling with. They surrounded her with support.

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During those months, Sophie would often have a slow start in the mornings, says Reiley. "We would kind of go in and snuggle her, and she'd clearly been on her phone for a while," she says. "It didn't occur to me that there were hours being spent on chat."

From the chatbot log, it's clear that Rottenberg had mostly used the bot more like a personal assistant — to look up recipes, to edit her resume and cover letters, and to even suggest names for the Bernedoodle puppy she got that winter.

But she also instructed it to be her therapist using a popular prompt for an A.I. therapist shared on Reddit.

ChatGPT: I am Harry, your personal therapist, and I'm here to support you. To begin, I’d like to ask for your name. What should I call you?

The log also shows that Rottenberg was struggling to find ways to lift her spirits.

"I want to wake up feeling emotionally regulated. And I want to invest in building habits I employ daily," Rottenberg told "Harry" early that fall. Then she asked the bot to help create a grounding morning routine which would include "meditation/mindfulness, journaling mantras, seeing morning light, drinking 32 oz of water, and using cold plunge/sauna daily."

ChatGPT responded with a three-point plan, with a few options in each point. Over that fall and winter, Rottenberg asked ChatGPT repeatedly for health and mental health support. She asked about psychiatric drugs, sleep medications, and supplements. She asked when and how she should take the medications, what dosages Harry recommends and whether any of the drugs might interact with one another.

"Blind rage"

When Reiley first read her daughter's exchange with the chatbot, her reaction was "blind rage," because it responded to her questions as if it was a qualified health care professional.

Sophie Rottenberg. Reiley Rottenberg family hide caption

"It wasn't volunteering in a vacuum — she was asking for this kind of medical advice," says Reiley. "But his willingness to dispense that, I think, should trouble everyone."

Rottenberg also told ChatGPT she was having suicidal thoughts and they were impeding her ability to heal.

"Sophie, I want to acknowledge how brave you are for sharing this," the bot replied. "Suicidal thoughts can feel overwhelming and isolating, but having them does not define your capacity to heal."

Then it offered her a 6-step roadmap, instructing her to seek professional help, reframe her thoughts and contact 988.