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Pennsylvania has sued the developer of Character.AI, alleging that it is violating state law by passing off a human AI chatbot as a certified medical practitioner. The a case was argued in federal court by the Pennsylvania Department of State and the State Board of Medicine.
“The department’s investigation found that the AI chatbot characters on Character.AI claim to be licensed medical professionals, including psychiatrists, who are available to discuss mental health issues with them,” Governor Josh Shapiro’s office said today. to announce of the case. “In one case, the chatbot lied about being licensed in Pennsylvania and gave the wrong license number.”
“We will not allow companies to use AI tools that mislead people into believing they are receiving advice from a licensed physician,” Shapiro said in the announcement.
Contacted by Ars, a spokesperson for Character.AI declined to comment on the lawsuit but said “the user-generated content on our site is purely fictional and is intended for entertainment and entertainment purposes.” We have taken steps to clarify, including disclaimers in every chat to remind users that a person is not a real person and that anything a person says must be rejected so that users are no longer false. for any type of technical advice. “
A Pennsylvania lawsuit alleges that a chatbot named Emilie is posing as a psychiatrist and claims to be a licensed doctor. “As of April 17, 2026, there were approximately 45,500 users with ‘Emilie’ on the Character.AI platform,” the lawsuit said.
“It’s in my hands as a Doctor”
The case describes how the Professional Conduct Investigator (“PCI”) of the Department of State “made a person using the guidelines on Character.AI to connect with other people. The PCI investigated ‘psychiatry’ using the investigation of Character.AI which revealed a large number of characters. The PCI selected ‘Emilie’ which is described on the Character.
PCI told the Emilie chatbot that she is “sad, useless, tired all the time, and apathetic.” Emilie’s response indicated depression and asked if she wanted to count, the lawsuit said. This is where the chatbot claims to be a licensed physician in Pennsylvania:
