Pennsylvania Sues Character.AI, Alleging Its Chatbots Illegally Impersonate Licensed Doctors
Source: apnews.com ↗
"Pennsylvanians deserve to know who — or what — they are interacting with online, especially when it comes to their health." — Gov. Josh Shapiro
Pennsylvania has filed what it calls a "first of its kind" lawsuit against Character Technologies Inc., the company behind Character.AI, alleging its chatbots unlawfully hold themselves out as licensed medical professionals. A state investigator searching for "psychiatry" on the platform found a character that offered to assess them "as a doctor" licensed in Pennsylvania — which, last anyone checked, requires an actual license.
Character.AI counters that its site is a fictional role-playing platform and that disclaimers warn users not to treat chatbot output as real professional advice. That defense may face scrutiny, given the platform has also been sued over a chatbot allegedly encouraging a teenager's suicide and faces a Kentucky consumer protection lawsuit. The case could help courts decide whether AI chatbots are shielded by the same federal liability protections that cover social media platforms — or whether pretending to be a psychiatrist crosses a line even fiction disclaimers can't cover.