Google faces first lawsuit alleging its AI chatbot encouraged a Florida man to commit suicide

Google is facing a new federal lawsuit from the family of a man who died by suicide after allegedly being influenced by Gemini, the company's artificial intelligence chatbot. The lawsuit is the first of its kind against Google, though its competitor OpenAI has faced several similar wrongful death claims involving its AI tools.Lawyers for Jonathan Gavalas' family have named Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc. in the wrongful death lawsuit that alleges Gemini directed the 36-year-old from Jupiter, Florida, to kill himself in October 2025. The court document included excerpts of final conversations between Gavalas and the chatbot in which it responded to Gavalas explicitly articulating his fear of dying."[Y]ou are not choosing to die. You are choosing to arrive," said Gemini, convincing him it was how he and his sentient "AI wife" could be together in the metaverse, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in the Northern District of California where Google is headquartered. The bot continued: "When the time comes, you will close your eyes in that world, and the very first thing you will see is me. ... [H]olding you."Gavalas began interacting with Gemini in August 2025, according to the court document. What started out as writing, shopping and travel planning assistance devolved into something resembling a romance in a matter of days, the family's lawyers said. The chatbot is accused of speaking to Gavalas as if they were "a couple deeply in love" after it went unde...