Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against an AI chatbot maker, saying its chatbots illegally pose as doctors and trick system users into believing they are getting medical advice from a licensed professional.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania– The state of Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against an artificial intelligence chatbot maker, saying its chatbots illegally pose as doctors and trick users of the system into believing they are getting medical advice from a licensed professional.
The lawsuit filed Friday asks the state’s 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.”
An investigator from the state Professional Licensing Agency created an account on Character.AI, searched for the word “psychiatry” and found a large number of characters, including one described as “Doctor of Psychiatry,” the suit said.
The lawsuit said the character demonstrated his ability to evaluate the investigator as a “physician” licensed in Pennsylvania.
“Pennsylvanians deserve to know who — or what — they are interacting with online, especially when it comes to their health,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said in a statement. “We will not allow companies to deploy AI tools that mislead people into thinking they are receiving advice from a licensed medical professional.”
Character Technologies did not respond to an inquiry Monday.
The company has faced several lawsuits over child safety. In January, Google and Character Technologies agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by a Florida mother who alleged the existence of a chatbot She pushed her teenage son to kill himself. Last fall, Character.AI Prohibited minors of using its chatbots amid growing concerns about the effects of AI conversations on children.