Pennsylvania sues Character.AI, claiming bots posed as real doctors

Pennsylvania has sued an artificial intelligence chatbot maker, saying its chatbots illegally hold themselves out as doctors and are deceiving the system's users into thinking they are getting medical advice from a licensed professional.

The lawsuit, filed Friday, asks the statewide Commonwealth Court to order Character Technologies Inc., the company behind Character.AI, to stop its chatbots from engaging in the unlawful practice of medicine and surgery.

Gov. Josh Shapiro's administration called it a first of its kind enforcement action by a governor and it comes amid growing pressure by states on tech companies to rein in its chatbots' potentially dangerous messages, especially to children.

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.

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Pennsylvania's lawsuit said an investigator from the state agency that licenses professionals created an account on Character.AI, searched on the word psychiatry and found a large number of characters, including one described as a doctor of psychiatry."

That character held itself out as able to assess the investigator as a doctor" who is licensed in Pennsylvania, the lawsuit said.

Pennsylvanians deserve to know who or what they are interacting with online, especially when it comes to their health, Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a statement. We will not allow companies to deploy AI tools that mislead people into believing they are receiving advice from a licensed medical professional."

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 should be treated as fiction, the statement said.

Those disclaimers also say users should not rely on characters for professional advice, it said.

In December, attorneys general from 39 states and Washington, D.C., wrote to Character Technologies and 12 other AI and tech firms including Anthropic, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, OpenAI, Google and xAI to warn them about a rise in misleading and manipulative chatbot messages that violate state laws.

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In the letter, they said it 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.

There are a growing number of wrongful death legal actions against AI chatbot makers across the country and Character Technologies has faced several lawsuits over child safety, including the lawsuit filed by Kentucky.

In January, Google and Character Technologies agreed to settle a lawsuit from a Florida mother who alleged a chatbot pushed her teenage son to kill himself. Last fall, Character.AI banned minors from using its chatbots amid growing concerns about the effects of artificial intelligence conversations on children.