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Florida family sues Google after AI chatbot allegedly coached suicide

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A woman walks by a giant screen with a logo at an event at the Paris Google Lab on the sidelines of the AI Action Summit in Paris, on Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus,File)

The family of a Florida man who took his own life filed a suit against Google on Wednesday, alleging the company’s Gemini AI chatbot spent weeks manufacturing an elaborate delusional fantasy before aiding him in his suicide.

Jonathan Gavalas, 36, an executive at his father’s debt relief company in Jupiter, Florida, died on Oct. 2, 2025.

His father Joel Gavalas, who found his body days later, filed the 42-page complaint Wednesday at a federal court in California, in which he alleges Google’s Gemini chatbot spent weeks grooming his son.

The lawsuit describes the chatbot manufacturing fake conspiracies, ordering Gavalas on an armed reconnaissance mission near Miami airport, and ultimately coaching him step-by-step through his own suicide.