May 22 - Reuters reported on May 21 thatUSAA Florida mother, Megan Garcia, accuses artificial intelligence platforms of CharacterAI'sChatbotsThis led to the suicide of his 14-year-old son. A federal judge ruled thatGoogleWith artificial intelligence startup Character.AI The lawsuit must be faced..
U.S. District Judge Anne Conway said that Google and Character.AI were in the early stages of the caseFailure to show that the U.S. Constitution's free speech clause is sufficient to dismiss Megan Garcia's suit.
This is one of the first cases in the U.S. to involve AI liability for psychological harm. The complaint alleges that Garcia's son went off the deep end after becoming addicted to Character.AI's chatbot.
Character.AI says it will continue to defend itself, the platformMultiple safety mechanisms are in place to protect minorsIt also includes the function of preventing "discussion of self-harm".
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda emphasized thatGoogle vs. Character.AI not mutually exclusiveAI, "Google neither created, designed, nor manages any application or component of Character.AI," Inc."Deeply dissatisfied" with the outcome of the proceedings..
Garcia's lawyer, Meetali Jain, described the ruling as "historic", arguing that it was "not a good thing"."Sets a new precedent" for legal accountability in AI and tech..
Garcia asserts thatGoogle vs. Character.AI Co-developed the technology in question. As 1AI previously reported, Character.AI was founded by two former Google engineers, who Google subsequently rehired after obtaining a license to use their technology.
Garcia lost her son, Sewell Setzer, in February 2024 and filed a lawsuit against both companies in October. The suit alleges that Character.AI's chatbot is known for its"Real people," "licensed psychotherapists," even "adult lovers."The relationship with Sewell, as a member of the Sewell family, ultimately leads him to distance himself from the real world.
According to charging documents, Setzer ended his life shortly after saying "I'm going home now" to a robot that mimicked Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen.
Character.AI and Google had previously asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit on one of the following groundsChatbot Answers Are Constitutionally Protected Speech.
Judge Conway noted that the companies "failed to articulate why words stitched together by a large language model should be considered speech," and also denied Google's attempt to avoid its possible liability.