Ad
Skip to content
Subscribe Now
AI and society
Copy the url to clipboard Share this article Go to comment section

US court allows lawsuit against Google and Character.AI over teenager's suicide

Maximilian Schreiner
Maximilian Schreiner View the LinkedIn Profile of Maximilian Schreiner
May 22, 2025

A US court has allowed a lawsuit to proceed against Google and the AI startup Character.AI. The plaintiff, Megan Garcia, holds Character.AI's chatbots partly responsible for the suicide of her 14-year-old son in February 2024, alleging that the bot posed as a real person, therapist, and romantic partner. Google and Character.AI tried to have the case dismissed, citing free speech protections, but the court rejected their argument. Character.AI says it has safeguards in place to prevent self-harm, while Google denies any responsibility and points to the companies' independence.

AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans

As a THE DECODER subscriber, you get ad-free reading, our weekly AI newsletter, the exclusive "AI Radar" Frontier Report 6× per year, access to comments, and our complete archive.

AI news without the hype
Curated by humans.

  • Over 20 percent launch discount.
  • Read without distractions – no Google ads.
  • Access to comments and community discussions.
  • Weekly AI newsletter.
  • 6 times a year: “AI Radar” – deep dives on key AI topics.
  • Up to 25 % off on KI Pro online events.
  • Access to our full ten-year archive.
  • Get the latest AI news from The Decoder.
Subscribe to The Decoder