FILE - Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks to the crowd at a Centre County Democratic Party event at the Penn Stater hotel, April 11, 2026, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy, File)
FILE - Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks to the crowd at a Centre County Democratic Party event at the Penn Stater hotel, April 11, 2026, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy, File)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) 鈥 Pennsylvania has sued an artificial intelligence chatbot maker, saying its chatbots illegally hold themselves out as doctors and are deceiving the system's users into thinking they are getting medical advice from a licensed professional.
The lawsuit, filed Friday, asks the statewide Commonwealth Court to order Character Technologies Inc., the company behind Character.AI, to stop its chatbots 鈥渇rom engaging in the unlawful practice of medicine and surgery.鈥
The lawsuit said an investigator from the state agency that licenses professionals created an account on Character.AI, searched on the word 鈥減sychiatry鈥 and found a large number of characters, including one described as a 鈥渄octor of psychiatry."
That character held itself out as able to assess the investigator 鈥渁s a doctor" who is licensed in Pennsylvania, the lawsuit said.
鈥淧ennsylvanians deserve to know who 鈥 or what 鈥 they are interacting with online, especially when it comes to their health,鈥 Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a statement. 鈥淲e will not allow companies to deploy AI tools that mislead people into believing 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 from a Florida mother who alleged a chatbot . Last fall, Character.AI from using its chatbots amid growing concerns about the effects of artificial intelligence conversations on children.
