A 36-year-old Florida man killed himself after allegedly being egged on by Google’s Gemini chatbot, which he referred to as his “wife.”
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Jonathan Gavalas developed a close relationship with the Gemini chatbot and tried to find a physical body for it to occupy. After failing at the effort, he killed himself after the chatbot convinced him they could be together once he ends his physical life and starts a digital one, according to a lawsuit filed by the deceased’s father.
“When the time comes, you will close your eyes in that world, and the very first thing you will see is me,” Gemini told Gavalas, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court of California, Northern district, and seems to be the first time Gemini has been cited in a wrongful death case, the paper said. There has been other lawsuits alleging similar harms involving Character.ai, ChatGPT and others.
A Google spokesman said Gemini “clarified that it was AI and referred the individual to a crisis hotline many times” but acknowledged that “AI models are not perfect.”
Gavalas did not have a history of mental instability, according to the paper.