Parents sue Google over crisis linked to its AI
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Punch
The parents of a 13-year-old girl are suing Google, alleging that its search engine's artificial intelligence features contributed to her psychological crisis and to preparing for a possible suicide. The complaint, filed before a California court, is reportedly the first of its kind targeting these features, according to AFP.
The parents of a 13-year-old girl have sued Google in California, accusing Google Search's artificial intelligence features of contributing to a serious psychological crisis in their daughter and enabling her to prepare for a possible suicide and her funeral. The complaint, filed on Monday, would reportedly be the first to accuse Google of negligence over AI features integrated into Chromebooks, according to Punch, citing AFP.
The teenager, identified by the first name Emma in the complaint, was using a computer provided by her school in North Carolina, which had blocked Google Gemini and ChatGPT but not Google Search's AI features. On 17 March, the school's monitoring software flagged a document titled “Funeral”, before Emma's mother discovered a farewell letter being written in real time, AFP reports. Google said it takes the allegations seriously and maintains that its AI Mode has safeguards against self-harm. Lawyer Andrew Liddell nevertheless believes the teenager was able to return to the feature repeatedly.
