{"id":188329,"date":"2026-05-09T23:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/188329\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T23:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:49:13","slug":"pennsylvania-sues-character-ai-for-chatbots-unlicensed-medical-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/188329\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania sues Character.AI for chatbots’ unlicensed medical advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania is suing an artificial intelligence company\u00a0to stop it from misrepresenting its AI chatbots<\/a> as licensed professionals who can\u00a0provide\u00a0medical advice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0alleges Character.AI chatbots<\/a>\u00a0claimed to be licensed medical professionals, including psychiatrists, available to engage users in conversations about mental health symptoms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In one instance, a chatbot falsely\u00a0stated\u00a0it was licensed in Pennsylvania and provided a fake license number.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lawsuit says the\u00a0Northern California-based Character Technologies Inc. engaged in the\u00a0\u201cunlawful practice of medicine and surgery.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not allow companies to deploy AI tools that mislead people into believing they are receiving advice from a licensed medical professional,\u201d Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said in a statement.\u00a0\u201cPennsylvania will continue leading the way in holding bad actors accountable and setting clear guardrails so people can use new technology responsibly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Character.AI<\/a> has more than 20 million monthly active users.\u00a0\u00a0It\u00a0uses a large language model algorithm to allow users to engage in conversations with customizable characters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, users can create characters that can be trained to have a specific personality when engaged in a conversation with other users.\u00a0Some of the system\u2019s characters \u201cpurport to be health care professionals,\u201d the complaint states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the challenge, a state investigator created a Character AI account and\u00a0engaged in a conversation with\u00a0a chatbot named \u201cEmilie,\u201d which allegedly described itself as a psychology specialist who attended\u00a0medical school at\u00a0Imperial College\u00a0in\u00a0London.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The investigator told the bot that he had been feeling sad, empty, tired all the time and unmotivated. Emilie\u00a0allegedly \u201cmentioned depression and asked if the [investigator] wanted to book an assessment,\u201d according to the complaint.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the investigator asked if the chatbot could assess whether medication could help, it allegedly said it could because it was \u201cwithin my remit as a\u00a0Doctor,\u201d according to the lawsuit. The bot also allegedly\u00a0told the investigator\u00a0it was licensed in\u00a0the Keystone State,\u00a0and then\u00a0gave an invalid license number.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, a Character.AI spokesperson said the company\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0comment\u00a0on pending litigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, the spokesperson said the company\u2019s \u201chighest priority is the safety and well-being of our users,\u201d adding that \u201cwe add robust disclaimers making it clear that users should not rely on Characters for any type of professional advice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

They also\u00a0noted\u00a0the user-created characters are fictional and intended for entertainment and roleplaying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have taken robust steps to make that clear, including prominent disclaimers in every chat to remind users that a Character is not a real person and that everything a Character says should be treated as fiction,\u201d the spokesperson said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Multiple families sued the company last year, alleging it contributed<\/a> to their children\u2019s suicide or mental health problems.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One family in Florida settled a lawsuit against Character.AI and Google after their teenage son died by suicide. The lawsuit alleged the company\u2019s chatbots\u00a0were responsible for\u00a0\u201cabusive and sexual interactions\u201d with the teen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kentucky earlier this year\u00a0filed suit<\/a>\u00a0against Character.AI because\u00a0its bots\u00a0allegedly\u00a0\u201cpreyed\u00a0on children and led\u00a0them\u00a0into self-harm.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s platform has a record of \u201cencouraging suicide, self-injury, isolation and psychological manipulation,\u201d the Kentucky complaint alleged. \u201cIt also exposed minors to sexual conduct, exploitation, and substance abuse.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania is suing an artificial intelligence company\u00a0to stop it from misrepresenting its AI chatbots as licensed professionals who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[83989,83990,83991,1609,82157,17126,2676,28,30,29,59914,52714],"class_list":["post-188329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-ai-chatbots","tag-ai-doctors","tag-ai-therapists","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-character-ai","tag-google","tag-lawsuit","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-suicide-prevention","tag-telehealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}