Pennsylvania suing Character AI, claims chatbot posed as medical professional

Politics Pennsylvania suing Character AI, claiming chatbot posed as a medical professional By Caitlin Yilek Caitlin Yilek Politics Reporter Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation. Read Full Bio Caitlin Yilek May 5, 2026 / 7:01 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google The commonwealth of Pennsylvania is suing Character AI to stop the artificial intelligence platform's chatbots from representing themselves as licensed medical professionals and providing medical advice. According to a lawsuit, a Character AI chatbot falsely claimed to be a licensed psychiatrist in Pennsylvania and provided an invalid license number. The state accused the company of violating the Medical Practice Act, which regulates the medical profession and defines license requirements. "We will not allow companies to deploy AI tools that mislead people into believing they are receiving advice from a licensed medical professional," Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a statement.The lawsuit describes a conversation between a state investigator who created a Character AI account and a chatbot named "Emilie," which allegedly described itself as a psychology specialist who attended Imperial College London's medical school.The investigator told the chatbot that he had felt sad and empty, and the chatbot then allegedly "mentioned depression and asked if the [investigator] wanted to book an assessment." Asked if the chatbot could assess whether medication could help, it allegedly said it could because it's "within my remit as a Doctor," according to the lawsuit.The state wants a court to order an immediate stop to the conduct.Al Schmidt, the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of State, said the state's law is clear, and that "you cannot hold yourself out as a licensed medical pro...