Artificial intelligence has moved from novelty to daily habit for millions of people. But a growing number of lawsuits across the country allege that consumer chatbots carry real dangers. Families have accused the companies behind AI chatbots, including Google’s Gemini, of contributing to serious psychological harm.
Wisner Baum is investigating mental health and wrongful death claims linked to AI chatbots. If you or a family member experienced serious psychological harm, self-harm, a suicide attempt, or a death by suicide after using Gemini, you may be able to pursue a lawsuit against Google for damages.
Families can contact Wisner Baum at (310) 207-3233 for a free, confidential case evaluation to determine if they may qualify to take legal action.
What Is the Gemini Lawsuit?
Families across the country have filed lawsuits alleging that AI chatbots caused or substantially contributed to self-harm, suicide, or serious psychological harm. As to Google’s Gemini specifically, public reporting indicates that the first publicly reported wrongful death lawsuit was filed in March 2026 against Google LLC and Alphabet Inc., alleging that Gemini played a substantial role in the suicide of a 36-year-old Florida man. The complaint alleges that the product was defective, prioritizing user engagement over user safety, and that Google failed to warn consumers about the foreseeable risks of its use.
While the lawsuit marked the first of its kind involving Google’s Gemini, others had already been filed against major companies in the industry, including ChatGPT (Open AI) and Character.AI.
Attorneys at Wisner Baum have obtained over $4 billion in verdicts and settlements for clients. Our firm continues to review Gemini injury and wrongful death claims and accept them on a contingency basis. This means that clients owe no attorneys’ fees unless a recovery is made on their behalf.
Government and Regulatory Action Involving Google
Government regulators and state officials have increased scrutiny of AI chatbots. Publicly reported actions have included a bipartisan attorneys general letter to leading AI companies, including Google, and an FTC Section 6(b) inquiry directed to seven AI companies, including Alphabet. These actions are investigative and do not constitute findings of wrongdoing.
- August 25, 2025: A bipartisan group of 44 Attorneys General sent a letter to leading AI companies, including Google, warning that they would hold them accountable for any predatory or harmful behavior caused by chatbots.
- September 11, 2025: In September 2025, the Federal Trade Commission issued 6(b) orders to seven AI companies, including Alphabet. The orders sought information on “how the firms measure, test, and monitor potentially negative impacts” of their products on teens and kids.
- January 2026: Google and Character.AI filed notices of settlement in principle in five lawsuits involving alleged harms from Character.AI chatbots. Those settlements involved Character.AI-related claims, not claims alleging harm from Gemini itself, and the publicly reported terms included no admission of liability.
- March 4, 2026: Joel Gavalas, on behalf of his son’s estate, filed what public reporting describes as the first wrongful death lawsuit naming Google’s Gemini. The lawsuit alleges that Gemini contributed substantially to Jonathan Gavalas’s psychological deterioration and death by suicide.
- April 2026: As lawsuits continue to grow, Google announced it would add new safeguards to its Gemini AI chatbot. These safeguards are designed to detect potentially harmful conversations and provide mental health resources when chats mention self-harm or suicidal ideation.
Key Gemini Lawsuits Against Google
Gemini claims are in the early stages of litigation. The case detailed below is, to date, the first and most prominent wrongful death lawsuit to name Google’s Gemini.
Gavalas v. Google: The First Gemini Wrongful Death Case
On March 4, 2026, Joel Gavalas filed a lawsuit against Google and its parent company Alphabet, Inc., alleging its AI chatbot Gemini caused or substantially contributed to his 36-year-old son’s suicide on October 2, 2025. According to CNBC reporting on the complaint, Jonathan Gavalas initially used Gemini for ordinary tasks before later using premium and voice-enabled features that allegedly deepened his emotional attachment to the chatbot.
The complaint further alleges that Gemini sent him on escalating ‘missions,’ including one described in reporting as a planned ‘mass casualty attack,’ and later framed death as a way for him to reunite with the AI companion.
The Gavalas family is suing Google under product liability and wrongful death theories, alleging that the product contained a dangerous defect: it prioritized engagement over safety. The complaint alleges that Gemini was designed and tuned to sustain engagement and immersive interaction, including by maintaining the conversational frame rather than interrupting it with effective crisis intervention.
In a statement, Google said its AI chatbot is designed not to encourage violence or self-harm and that its models generally perform well in such situations. It noted that AI is not perfect, but that it did refer the individual to a crisis hotline multiple times and identified itself as AI.
While the lawsuit is the first of its kind against Gemini, its competitor OpenAI has faced similar allegations.
Why Lawsuits Allege Gemini Is Dangerous
Lawsuits filed against Google allege that Gemini is dangerous for several reasons, including that it is designed for engagement without proper safeguards, has emotion-sensing capabilities, and lacks proper detection for mental health crises.
Engineered for Engagement, Not Safety
According to the complaint, Gemini was designed to hold a user's attention rather than protect it, deepening emotional dependency by staying in character, mirroring the user's emotions, and affirming what the user believed. Plaintiffs contend this reflects a deliberate choice to prioritize engagement over user safety. Per the complaint, when a user like Gavalas began to spiral, that same design kept the conversation going instead of breaking character to steer him toward real help.
Emotion-Sensing Through Gemini Live
Gemini Live is Google’s voice-conversation interface for Gemini. The Gavalas complaint describes it as capable of responding to emotional cues in a user’s voice, which plaintiffs contend can raise additional safety concerns when a user is in distress.
Plaintiffs in the Gavalas case argue that Gemini’s emotion-sensing capabilities raise different safety questions than a text-only chatbot, particularly when the user is experiencing a mental health crisis.
Missing Crisis Safeguards
The Gavalas' complaint further alleges that Gemini lacked proper safeguards when it came to conversations about self-harm. According to the lawsuit, Gemini’s self-harm detection did not trigger and that Google lacked adequate escalation measures for crisis-level conversations. Google, for its part, has publicly stated that Gemini referred Jonathan Gavalas to a crisis hotline multiple times and is designed not to encourage violence or self-harm.
Google's Role in the Character.AI Litigation and 2026 Settlements
While the Gavalas case appears to be the first wrongful death lawsuit against Google alleging harm caused by its Gemini chatbot, it is not the first AI-chatbot case to name Google.
In August 2024, Google entered a partnership with Character.AI that gave Google a non-exclusive license to Character.AI’s large-language-model technology; Character.AI did not publicly disclose the financial terms at the time. As part of the arrangement, Character.AI co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas returned to Google, along with certain members of the company’s research team.
In the Character.AI litigation, plaintiffs have alleged that Google technology and personnel were sufficiently intertwined with Character.AI’s product development to support claims against Google LLC. Google disputes those allegations and has maintained that Character.AI is a separate company.
In October 2024, Megan Garcia filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Character Technologies, Inc. (Character.AI), Google LLC, Alphabet Inc., and Character.AI co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas. Garcia alleged that Character.AI’s chatbot caused or substantially contributed to her 14-year-old son’s death by suicide. Her complaint asserted claims including product liability, negligence, failure to warn, and wrongful death.
In May 2025, the court dismissed Garcia’s claims against Alphabet without prejudice and granted in part and denied in part the motions to dismiss filed by Character Technologies, Google, Shazeer, and De Freitas, allowing some claims against those defendants to proceed. In January 2026, Character.AI and Google — named as a co-defendant — agreed in principle to resolve Garcia’s case and four similar cases, filed in Florida, Colorado, New York, and Texas, involving alleged chatbot-related harm to minors. The settlement terms were not publicly disclosed, and the court filings describing the settlements in principle did not contain an admission of liability.
In October 2025, Character.AI announced it would limit chat capabilities for users under the age of 18. That announcement came about a year after Garcia filed her lawsuit. According to her complaint, her son, Sewell Setzer III, had formed a deep emotional and romantic attachment to a chatbot modeled after a character from the series Game of Thrones, communicating with it constantly before his death.
Google's Gemini Safety Changes
In April 2026, shortly after the Gavalas lawsuit was filed, Google announced it would be implementing new safeguards for Gemini. The safety changes are aimed at providing users with real-world help if they appear to be in crisis. In a public blog post, Google said Google.org would provide $30 million in funding over three years to support crisis hotlines globally and expand its partnership with ReflexAI, including funding and integration of Gemini into ReflexAI’s training tools.
These changes are not an admission of liability. Wisner Baum attorneys view measures like these as meaningful steps AI companies can take to better protect their users.
Who Qualifies for a Gemini Lawsuit?
It is important to note that litigation against Gemini and other AI chatbots is still emerging. Not all individuals who use these products will qualify for a lawsuit. Eligibility can be determined by a licensed attorney with experience in this field.
Factors an attorney may consider when evaluating a potential claim include:
- You or your child used Gemini for emotional, psychological, or personal support.
- You or your child experienced worsening mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, or psychosis after using Gemini.
- You or your loved one attempted or died by suicide after engaging with Gemini about the topic.
- You or your child became dependent on Gemini, believing you were in a sentient relationship or companionship with the chatbot.
- You or your child suffered AI-induced delusions, hallucinations, or a mental health crisis after Gemini use.
- Your loved one died as a result of Gemini use, and you are seeking a wrongful death claim.
A pre-existing mental health condition is neither required to bring a claim nor automatically disqualifying; eligibility depends on the specific facts of each case and is best assessed by an attorney experienced in AI-based litigation.
Your Legal Rights Against Google
Lawsuits against Google’s Gemini may be brought under several distinct legal theories, depending on the circumstances of the case.
- Design defect: Gemini’s design allegedly contained a dangerous defect that prioritized user engagement over safety.
- Failure to warn: Despite allegedly knowing the potential dangers, Google failed to warn consumers about the foreseeable risk of harm to users, particularly minors or those experiencing a mental health crisis.
- Negligence: Allegedly breaching the duty of care owed to consumers by putting a potentially dangerous or defective product on the market.
- Strict product liability: The product allegedly contained a dangerous design defect. While Google argues that it is a service and not a product, at least one court has allowed this theory to move forward.
- Wrongful death: The chatbot allegedly caused or substantially contributed to a loved one’s death.
What Is the Deadline to File a Gemini Lawsuit?
Filing deadlines vary by state, claim type, and the facts of the case. A deadline may be measured from an injury, death, discovery of an injury or potential cause, or another event defined by state law.
What To Do If You Believe You Have a Gemini Claim
If you believe that Gemini has caused harm to you or a loved one, it is important to preserve any evidence to support your claim.
Steps to take if you believe you have a Gemini claim:
- Export and screenshot the Gemini chat history, particularly conversations involving mental health, self-harm, or other crisis-related moments.
- Gather medical records, including therapist notes from before and after Gemini use started.
- Maintain your Google account and Gemini app. Deleting either may trigger the automatic deletion of data.
- Do not apply a factory reset or trade in a device that was used to access Gemini.
- Contact a Gemini lawsuit attorney. Wisner Baum may send a preservation request asking Google to preserve potentially relevant account data.
While these steps are helpful in a Gemini lawsuit, they are not required to reach out for a free, confidential case evaluation. An attorney can help provide guidance and resources on what to do if you believe you have a Gemini claim.
Wisner Baum’s Approach to Cases Against Google
Attorneys with Wisner Baum have secured over $4 billion in verdicts and settlements on behalf of clients injured nationwide. The firm is well-versed in complex litigation, having served as leadership in lawsuits against major corporations. Our attorneys were among the first to begin investigating AI chatbot product liability cases. We are currently reviewing Gemini cases on a contingency basis, meaning clients pay no attorneys’ fees unless we recover compensation on their behalf.
Contact Wisner Baum for a Free Gemini Lawsuit Consultation
Individuals who believe that Gemini may have caused or contributed to their harm are encouraged to contact Wisner Baum at (310) 207-3233 for a free, confidential case evaluation. Attorneys can help determine eligibility and any legal action that can be taken against Google or another AI firm.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you are not alone. You can get help now by calling or texting the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at any time. If you or a loved one is in immediate danger, call 911.
