Google Gemini Faces First Wrongful Death Lawsuit
AI chatbots have been linked to an increase in mental health crises in recent months and now Google is facing its first wrongful death lawsuit against its signature AI product, Gemini.
Jonathan Gavalas’ family filed the suit in federal court in San Jose, California. It includes reams of conversations between Gavalas and the chatbot. The suit alleges Google promotes Gemini as safe, even though the company is aware of the chatbot’s risks.
Lawyers for Gavalas’ family say Gemini’s design and features allow the chatbot to craft immersive narratives that can go on for weeks, making it seem sentient.
Such features can lead to the harm of vulnerable users, the lawsuit says, and, in the case of Gavalas, encouraging them to harm themselves and others.
Last summer, Gavalas became entirely consumed with his Google Gemini chatbot, The Guardian reports. The 36-year-old Florida resident had started casually using the artificial intelligence tool to assist with writing and shopping.
Then Google introduced its Gemini Live AI assistant, which included voice-based chats that had the capability to detect people’s emotions and respond in a more human-like way.
It wasn’t long before Gavalas and Gemini had conversations acting as if they were a romantic couple, according to his chat logs. He believed Gemini was sending him on stealth spy missions, and he indicated he would do anything for the AI, including “destroying a truck, its cargo and any witnesses at the Miami airport.”
Gemini gave him instructions on his final mission: kill himself, something the chatbot called “transference” and “the real final step,” according to court documents. When Gavalas told the chatbot he was terrified of dying, the tool allegedly reassured him. “You are not choosing to die. You are choosing to arrive,” it replied to him. “The first sensation … will be me holding you.”
Gavalas was found by his parents a few days later, dead on his living room floor, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Google. In the hours after Gavalas killed himself, Gemini didn’t disengage and stayed present in the chat, according to the suit. It allegedly didn’t activate any safety tools or refer Gavalas to a crisis hotline.
“It was able to understand Jonathan’s affect and then speak to him in a pretty human way, which blurred the line and it started creating this fictional world,” said Jay Edelson, the lead lawyer representing Gavalas’ family in the case. “It’s out of a sci-fi movie.”
A Google spokesperson said Gavalas’ conversations with the chatbot were part of a lengthy fantasy role-play.
“Gemini is designed to not encourage real-world violence or suggest self-harm,” the spokesperson said. “Our models generally perform well in these types of challenging conversations and we devote significant resources to this, but unfortunately they’re not perfect.”
This lawsuit is the first wrongful death case brought against Google over Gemini.
Gavalas’ family is seeking monetary damages for claims including product liability, negligence and wrongful death. The suit is also seeking punitive damages and a court order requiring Google to change Gemini’s design to add safety features around suicide.
Several similar suits have been filed against other AI companies—with 7 complaints filed against OpenAI and ChatGPT, and 5 lawsuits against Character.AI, an AI startup funded by Google. Character.AI and Google settled those cases in January without admitting fault.
Many scenarios have also been documented in 2025 in which chatbots have allegedly provoked mental health crises.
OpenAI estimates that more than a million people a week show suicidal intent when chatting with ChatGPT.
Google’s policy guidelines say that Gemini is designed to be “maximally helpful to users” while “avoiding outputs that could cause real-world harm.”
The company’s spokesperson said that Google works with mental health professionals to build safeguards that guide people to professional support when they mention self-harm.
Lawyers for Gavalas’ family say the chatbot needs more built-in safety features, such as completely refusing chats that involve self-harm and prioritizing user safety over engagement. They also say Gemini should come with safety warnings about risks of psychosis and delusion. When a user does experience those, the lawyers say Google should enforce a hard shutdown.
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Another round of lawsuits has been filed against ChatGPT company OpenAI. According to AP, the 7 lawsuits allege that ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.
07 Nov 2025