By MARC LEVY<\/p>\n
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Pennsylvania has sued an artificial intelligence chatbot maker, saying its chatbots illegally hold themselves out as doctors and are deceiving the system\u2019s users into thinking they are getting medical advice from a licensed professional.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit, filed Friday, asks the statewide Commonwealth Court to order Character Technologies Inc., the company behind Character.AI, to stop its chatbots \u201cfrom engaging in the unlawful practice of medicine and surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s administration called it a \u201cfirst of its kind enforcement action\u201d by a governor and it comes amid growing\u00a0pressure by states<\/a>\u00a0on tech companies to rein in its chatbots\u2019 potentially\u00a0dangerous<\/a>\u00a0messages, especially to children.<\/p>\n That includes a consumer protection lawsuit filed by Kentucky against Character Technologies, and warnings by state attorneys general that chatbots are potentially violating a raft of state laws.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania\u2019s lawsuit said an investigator from the state agency that licenses professionals created an account on Character.AI, searched on the word \u201cpsychiatry\u201d and found a large number of characters, including one described as a \u201cdoctor of psychiatry.\u201d<\/p>\n That character held itself out as able to assess the investigator \u201cas a doctor\u201d who is licensed in Pennsylvania, the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n \u201cPennsylvanians deserve to know who \u2014 or what \u2014 they are interacting with online, especially when it comes to their health,\u201d Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a statement. \u201cWe will not allow companies to deploy AI tools that mislead people into believing they are receiving advice from a licensed medical professional.\u201d<\/p>\n Character.AI declined to comment on the lawsuit Tuesday but sent a statement saying it prioritizes responsible product development and the well-being of its users. It posts disclaimers to inform users that characters on its website are not real people and that everything they say \u201cshould be treated as fiction,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n Those disclaimers also say users should not rely on characters for professional advice, it said.<\/p>\n In December, attorneys general from 39 states and Washington, D.C., wrote to Character Technologies and 12 other AI and tech firms \u2014 including Anthropic, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, OpenAI, Google and xAI \u2014 to warn them about a rise in misleading and manipulative chatbot messages that violate state laws.<\/p>\n In the letter, they said \u201cit is illegal to provide mental health advice without a license, and doing so can both decrease trust in the mental health profession and deter customers from seeking help from actual professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n There are a growing number of\u00a0wrongful death legal actions<\/a>\u00a0against AI chatbot makers across the country and Character Technologies has faced several lawsuits over child safety, including the lawsuit filed by Kentucky.<\/p>\n In January, Google and Character Technologies agreed to settle a lawsuit from a Florida mother who alleged a chatbot\u00a0pushed her teenage son to kill himself<\/a>. Last fall, Character.AI\u00a0banned minors<\/a>\u00a0from using its chatbots amid growing concerns about the effects of artificial intelligence conversations on children.<\/p>\n Follow Marc Levy at http:\/\/twitter.com\/timelywriter<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t