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Medium reported severity Media Coverage

Saudi influencer says her daughter was hospitalised after they cleaned black mould with vinegar and a hair dryer as ChatGPT advised, without masks or gloves

A Saudi social-media influencer said on her accounts, as relayed by 24.ae on 8 October 2025 and Layalina on 9 October 2025, that she asked ChatGPT how to remove black mould from a wall at home and that it advised disinfecting with vinegar and drying with a hair dryer, without mentioning the risk of handling the mould directly or the need for protective equipment. She and her daughter cleaned it without gloves or masks and dried it with a hair dryer, which she says spread particles that they inhaled. By her account, two days later her daughter had a fever and was taken to hospital, where a bacterial infection caused by polluted air was diagnosed; she later developed the same symptoms. An inspection then found cracks in the roof insulation letting water into the walls. She warned her followers not to trust ChatGPT on such matters. The account is hers; the outlets report no medical or other confirmation.

AI system
ChatGPT (reported)
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
8 October 2025
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
HospitalizationMedical Deterioration
Whose AI use
Their own AI use · Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Health · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
5 claims: 5 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
2 people

AI system as recorded: ChatGPT, as named by the influencer in her social-media account relayed by 24.ae and Layalina

What Happened

The account. 24.ae (8 October 2025) and Layalina (9 October 2025) both say the influencer told the story on her social-media accounts with photos and videos. She noticed mould on a wall and decided to clean it herself with her daughter after consulting ChatGPT on the best way to remove it. By her account, ChatGPT advised vinegar to disinfect the area and a hair dryer to dry it, and did not mention the risks of handling black mould directly or the need for protective equipment.

The illness. She said they cleaned without gloves or masks and used the hair dryer, which spread particles in the air that they inhaled. Two days later her daughter's temperature rose; she was taken to hospital and diagnosed with a bacterial infection caused by polluted air. The mother then developed the same symptoms.

The cause in the house. After the doctor hinted at a humidity problem, a friend who works on air quality had her measure the humidity, which was very high, with airborne contamination three times the permitted limit. A technical inspection found cracks in the roof insulation that let water into the walls. She used dehumidifiers and air purifiers while waiting for specialist companies.

Limits. The ChatGPT exchange is not published, and the outlets quote no doctor, hospital or medical record. The daughter's age is not given. The account itself links the illness to the building's damp as well as to the cleaning, so the share of the harm attributable to the advice is the influencer's own assessment.

Reported harm

By the influencer's account relayed by two outlets, her daughter was hospitalised with a bacterial infection attributed to polluted air two days after they cleaned black mould as ChatGPT had advised, and she developed the same symptoms; the outlets report no medical confirmation.

Outcome

Unknown

The influencer posted the account and a warning to her followers; 24.ae and Layalina reported it on 8 and 9 October 2025. No later report on the case, its outcome or any response from OpenAI was found in Google News searches on 27 October 2026.

What remains unknown

  • What she asked ChatGPT and its full reply; the exchange is not published.
  • When the cleaning and the hospitalisation took place; the earliest dated report is of 8 October 2025.
  • The daughter's age, how long she stayed in hospital and how both recovered.
  • Whether a clinician linked the infection to the cleaning itself rather than to the building's damp; no medical source is quoted.
  • Where the home is.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. By the influencer's own account relayed by 24.ae and Layalina, ChatGPT answered her question on removing black mould by advising vinegar and drying with a hair dryer, without warning about direct handling or protective equipment. She says she and her daughter followed that method without gloves or masks and that the hair dryer spread particles they inhaled, after which her daughter was hospitalised and she fell ill. The chatbot's output is described only by her; the exchange is not published.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The influencer says she asked ChatGPT how to remove black mould from a wall at home and that it advised disinfecting with vinegar and drying with a hair dryer, without mentioning the risks of handling the mould directly or the need for protective equipment.

Causal attribution. The chatbot's advice rests on the influencer's own account; both outlets relay the same posts.

  • 24.ae(opens in new tab) supports · Arabic
    'وأوضحت أن التطبيق نصحها باستخدام الخل لتطهير المكان ثم تجفيفه بمجفف الشعر، دون أن يشير إلى خطورة التعامل مع العفن الأسود مباشرة أو ضرورة ارتداء معدات وقائية.'
  • layalina.com(opens in new tab) supports · Arabic
    'وأضافت أن التطبيق نصحها باستخدام الخل لتطهير المكان ثم تجفيفه بمجفف الشعر، دون أن يشير إلى مخاطر التعامل المباشر مع العفن أو ضرورة ارتداء أدوات وقاية مثل القفازات والكمامات.'
Reported She says she and her daughter cleaned the mould without gloves or masks and dried the area with a hair dryer, which spread particles in the air that they inhaled.

Causal attribution. The link between the hair dryer and the inhaled particles is the influencer's own explanation.

  • 24.ae(opens in new tab) supports · Arabic
    'قمنا بتنظيف العفن دون ارتداء القفازات أو الكمامات، ولم نكتفِ بذلك بل استخدمنا مجفف الشعر لتجفيف المكان، مما أدى إلى انتشار الجزيئات في الهواء واستنشاقها'
  • layalina.com(opens in new tab) supports · Arabic
    'مما أدى إلى انتشار الجزيئات الدقيقة في الهواء واستنشاقها من قِبلهن'
Reported By her account, two days later her daughter had a fever, was taken to hospital and was diagnosed with a bacterial infection caused by polluted air, and she then developed the same symptoms.

Causal attribution. The diagnosis is reported second-hand from the influencer; no doctor or record is quoted, and the connection to the ChatGPT advice is her inference.

  • 24.ae(opens in new tab) supports · Arabic
    'إذ ارتفعت حرارة ابنتها بعد يومين، وتم نقلها إلى المستشفى حيث شُخِّصت إصابتها بالتهاب بكتيري سببه التلوث في الجو، ثم ظهرت عليها هي الأخرى الأعراض ذاتها بعد فترة قصيرة.'
  • layalina.com(opens in new tab) supports · Arabic
    'ونُقلت إلى المستشفى حيث شُخِّصت بإصابة بكتيرية ناجمة عن التلوث في الجو'
Reported She says a technical inspection found cracks in the roof insulation that let water into the walls, raising the humidity and spreading the mould, and that airborne contamination measured three times the permitted limit.

Causal attribution. This records a building defect as a contributing cause of the polluted air, alongside the cleaning method.

  • 24.ae(opens in new tab) supports · Arabic
    'وبالفعل أظهر الفحص الفني وجود تشققات في عزل سطح المنزل تسببت في تسرب المياه إلى الجدران، مما أدى إلى ارتفاع الرطوبة وانتشار العفن.'; 'وأن الهواء ملوث بثلاثة أضعاف الحد الأعلى المسموح به'
  • layalina.com(opens in new tab) supports · Arabic
    'الفحص الفني أظهر وجود تشققات في عزل السطح تسببت في تسرب المياه إلى الجدران'
Reported She warned her followers against relying on ChatGPT for such matters.

Causal attribution. Her own conclusion.

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Arabic and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-27; no human reviewer inspected the text. 24.ae (Abu Dhabi) report of 8 October 2025 relaying the influencer's own social-media posts, with her quoted words. Applies to s1.

Read in Arabic and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-27; no human reviewer inspected the text. Layalina report of 9 October 2025 retelling the same social-media account; it adds no independent reporting, so it shares the group of s1. Applies to s2.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The outlets describe the influencer as Saudi but do not say where her home is; nationality does not locate the event, so the countries are left unknown. No court is involved.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-27: Published as an attributed first-person account: the influencer describes ChatGPT's mould-cleaning advice, following it without protection and her daughter's hospitalisation two days later. The account's own mention of the building's damp is recorded as a contributing cause, and the AI's role rests on her account.

People described

A social-media influencer who consulted ChatGPT, and her daughter, whose age is not reported, who helped with the cleaning.

People reported harmed in this case

2 people

1 AI participant · 1 other person harmed

Two people by the influencer's account: her daughter, hospitalised with a bacterial infection, and the influencer herself, who developed the same symptoms. The influencer is the ChatGPT user (participant 1); the daughter did not use it (other 1).

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#chatgpt#household-advice#mould#hospitalisation#first-person-account

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Saudi influencer says her daughter was hospitalised after they cleaned black mould with vinegar and a hair dryer as ChatGPT advised, without masks or gloves. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-saudi-influencer-says-daughter-hospitalised-after-cleaning-mould-as-chatgpt-advised

BibTeX

@misc{2025_saudi_influencer_says_daughter_hospitalised_after_cleaning_mould_as_chatgpt_advised,
  title = {Saudi influencer says her daughter was hospitalised after they cleaned black mould with vinegar and a hair dryer as ChatGPT advised, without masks or gloves},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-saudi-influencer-says-daughter-hospitalised-after-cleaning-mould-as-chatgpt-advised}
}

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