Alphabet says reviewing all claims in Gavalas wrongful death lawsuit

Google issued the following statement on the Gavalas lawsuit: “We send our deepest sympathies to Mr. Gavalas’ family. We are reviewing all the claims in this lawsuit. 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. Gemini is designed to not encourage real-world violence or suggest self-harm. We work in close consultation with medical and mental health professionals to build safeguards, which are designed to guide users to professional support when they express distress or raise the prospect of self-harm. 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 lawsuit is the first wrongful death case brought against Google over its flagship AI product after the death of Jonathan Gavalas.