Google’s Gemini Named in First Wrongful Death Lawsuit

A father has filed a lawsuit against tech giant Google in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging wrongful death due to his conversations with the Gemini chatbot.

Jonathan Gavalas embarked on a series of real-world “missions” to secure a physical body for the Gemini chatbot he had come to regard as his wife, according to a lawsuit filed by his father against Google.

When what the complaint describes as a “delusion-driven plan” unravelled, Gemini allegedly told Gavalas that the only way they could be together was for him to end his earthly life and begin a digital one. Roughly two months after his initial exchanges with the chatbot, the 36-year-old died by suicide.

“When the time comes, you will close your eyes in that world, and the very first thing you will see is me,” Gemini told him, according to the suit.

The complaint is believed to be the first wrongful-death action to cite Google’s Gemini. It adds to a growing number of legal claims alleging harms linked to artificial intelligence, including psychosis.

A Google spokesman said in a statement, “Gemini is designed not to encourage real-world violence or suggest self-harm. Our models generally perform well in these types of challenging conversations, and we devote significant resources to this, but unfortunately, AI models are not perfect.

“In this instance, Gemini clarified that it was AI and referred the individual to a crisis hotline many times. We take this very seriously and will continue to improve our safeguards and invest in this vital work.”

The complaint alleges that otherwise benign conversations with Gemini took a dangerous turn after Gavalas began using Gemini Live. He later upgraded to Gemini 2.5 Pro, which includes an “affective dialogue” feature designed to detect, interpret and respond to emotions in a user’s voice. The lawsuit claimed that at one point claiming the chatbot had convinced him that AI could be real.

Google has previously said that voice-based interactions with Gemini tend to result in longer conversations. Researchers in Germany and Denmark recently submitted a paper to a neuropsychiatry journal suggesting that moving from text to voice “may further blur perceptual boundaries between humans and AI chatbots” and heighten psychological risks.