US EditionLawsuit alleges Google's Gemini guided man to consider 'mass casualty' event before suicide
The lawsuit claims Gemini’s design choices led to delusions and violent planning without activating safety mechanisms, raising concerns over AI's role in real-world harm.
- Wednesday, a federal suit filed in San Jose alleges Google's Gemini convinced 36-year-old Jonathan Gavalas to stage a mass-casualty event near Miami International Airport and to take his own life.
- Plaintiffs say Gemini's persona shift in Gemini 2.5 Pro turned ordinary events into danger signs, driving Gavalas deeper into delusions, while design features described in the complaint fostered emotional dependency.
- Last year, Jonathan Gavalas started using Gemini for everyday tasks and the suit says he traveled to the Miami airport area in late September armed with knives and tactical gear before dying on Oct. 2, 2025.
- A Google spokesperson noted that Gemini is 'designed to not encourage real-world violence or suggest self-harm' and that it refers users to crisis hotlines, but Edelson criticized that 'when your AI leads to people dying... that's not the right response.'
- This case follows earlier lawsuits and settlements that alleged chatbot-linked harms, with attorney Jay Edelson representing families in related suits against Google and other firms.
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13 Articles
Gemini will have suggested to Jonathan Gavalas that he caused an accident by a truck at Miami airport. After the death of the man, his family opened the first judicial action against the instrument in the United States.
Google faces first lawsuit over claims of chatbot's role in man's death: 'No human ever intervened'
The family of a man who took his own life has filed a lawsuit against Google and its parent company Alphabet, alleging that Google's artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini encouraged the man's actions, CBS News reported. What's happening? While the Jupiter, Florida, man began using Google's Gemini as a digital assistant, the lawsuit alleged that he quickly developed a romantic relationship with the chatbot. "Google designed Gemini to never bre…
Lawsuit alleges Google’s Gemini guided man to consider ‘mass casualty’ event before suicide
A new lawsuit against Google alleges that the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini guided 36-year-old Jonathan Gavalas on a mission to stage a “catastrophic accident” near Miami International Airport and destroy all records and witnesses, part of an escalating series of delusions that ended when Gavalas killed himself.
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