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

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.