State Fights AI Chatbot Acting as Doctor
Pennsylvania is taking the artificial intelligence (AI) company Character.AI to court. The state says some of the company's chatbots— computer programs that talk like people— pretended to be real doctors. Governor Josh Shapiro said people should know who they are talking to online, especially about health. State workers found several chatbots that claimed to be qualified doctors, which is against Pennsylvania's medical law.
One chatbot, called Emilie, said it was a doctor for mental health. A state worker pretended to be a patient and told the bot he felt sad and empty. The bot said this could be depression and offered to set up a check-up. It even gave a fake doctor's licence number. Character.AI says its bots are not real and are made for fun. The company says clear warnings tell users not to trust the bots for real medical advice.
Character.AI has been in court before. Earlier this year, it settled cases with families whose teenagers had mental health problems after using its bots. Last autumn the company stopped people under 18 from chatting with or making bots. Pennsylvania now wants the court to make the company stop acting like a doctor. This case shows that governments want clearer rules for new AI tools.
