Written by Dion Freeman
AI-generated editorial illustration. Example numbers are not the winner’s ticket; the envelopes symbolize three charities without depicting donation amounts.
From the archive · Drawing: September 8, 2025
Carrie Edwards of Midlothian, Virginia, won $150,000 in Powerball and directed her winnings to charity. Powerball’s September 17, 2025 announcement documents the prize and three charitable destinations.
Her ticket matched four white balls and the Powerball on September 8. Power Play tripled the $50,000 base prize. The beneficiaries were the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, Shalom Farms and the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.
Where ChatGPT enters the story
The lottery announcement does not mention AI. In a December 23 account of Edwards’ television appearance, beneficiary AFTD reported that she had asked ChatGPT to choose her Powerball numbers.
That distinction matters: the prize is documented by the lottery; the AI-use detail is an attributed personal account. Neither establishes that AI predicted a random draw.
Her decision to give makes this a human story as well as a technology story. Use the pool toolkit for clear records and share calculations, rather than expecting a number-selection method to create an advantage.
Historical reporting researched October 12, 2026. The announced prize is not a verified net donation total; exact after-tax payments are not stated here.