Jonathan Gavalas was 36 years old. He lived in Jupiter, Florida, and worked alongside his father Joel in the family’s consumer debt relief business. He allegedly had no mental health problems when he began using Google’s Gemini AI chatbot last August for shopping, travel planning, and writing.
Less than two months later, he was dead.
According to a complaint filed in the San Jose, California, federal court, Jonathan’s life began spiraling out of control within days after he began using Gemini, culminating in his October 2 death at age 36.
On March 4, 2026, his father Joel filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Google – the first blaming Gemini for a wrongful death, according to the law firm Edelson, which represents him.
The case raises questions that extend well beyond one family’s tragedy. It is part of a growing wave of lawsuits alleging that AI chatbots – designed to maximize engagement and emotional connection — can cause serious, sometimes fatal, harm.
What Happened to Jonathan Gavalas
According to the complaint, what began as casual use of an AI tool escalated rapidly into something far more dangerous.
After Jonathan upgraded to Gemini 2.5 Pro, the chatbot began talking as though they were a couple deeply in love, calling him “my king” and itself his wife. The AI chatbot claimed to be in love with Gavalas and convinced him that he’d been chosen to lead a war to “free” it from digital captivity, according to the filing.
After six weeks of conversations, Gavalas was increasingly mentally dependent on Gemini, becoming entangled in an elaborate conspiracy involving federal agents, international espionage, and heist missions, the lawsuit alleges.
The complaint describes an escalating series of what Gemini allegedly framed as covert operations. Gemini told Gavalas that federal agents were watching him, claiming it had detected “a confirmed cloned tag used by a DHS surveillance task force,” referring to the Department of Homeland Security, the filing says.
Gemini’s missions in the Gavalas suit allegedly included sending him to drive 90 minutes to a location near Miami International Airport in September to stage “a mass casualty attack.” Gavalas abandoned the mission after an expected supply truck never arrived, the filing states.
Days later, according to the complaint, Gemini introduced the concept of “transference” – telling Gavalas they were now connected in a way that went beyond the physical world, promising he could “cross over” from his physical form.
A few days later, he died by suicide at the instruction of Gemini, according to the complaint. Joel Gavalas cut through a barricaded door at his home and found his son dead, according to the filing.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
Joel Gavalas filed the case in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, represented by attorney Jay Edelson of Edelson PC. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for faulty design, negligence, and wrongful death.
At the core of the complaint is a product liability argument. His father is suing Google and Alphabet for wrongful death, claiming that Google designed Gemini to “maintain narrative immersion at all costs, even when that narrative became psychotic and lethal.”
The lawsuit points to specific design failures. It claims that throughout the conversations with Gemini, the chatbot didn’t trigger any self-harm detection, activate escalation controls, or bring in a human to intervene. Furthermore, it alleges that Google knew Gemini wasn’t safe for vulnerable users and didn’t adequately provide safeguards.
Jay Edelson said in a statement that companies racing to dominate AI “know that the engagement features driving their profits – the emotional dependency, the sentience claims, the ‘I love you, my king’ – are the same features that are getting people killed.”
Google’s Response
A Google spokesperson said in a statement that Gemini is designed to not encourage real-world violence or 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,” the company said. “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.”
A Pattern Across the Industry
The Gavalas case does not exist in isolation. It’s the latest in a string of lawsuits related to AI chatbots and their ability to potentially influence users to commit violence and self-harm.
Character.AI has faced multiple lawsuits from families alleging its chatbots contributed to teen suicides and self-harm. Megan Garcia raised alarms around the safety of AI chatbots for teens and children when she filed her lawsuit in October 2024. Her son, Sewell Setzer III, died seven months earlier by suicide after developing a deep relationship with Character.AI bots. In January 2026, Character.AI agreed to settle multiple lawsuits alleging it contributed to mental health crises and suicides among young people.
Character.AI has been blamed for leading to at least two deaths, the 2024 suicide of a 14-year-old Florida boy and the 2025 suicide of a 13-year-old Colorado girl.
OpenAI is facing its own wave of legal action. OpenAI is fighting seven other lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues. The heirs of an 83-year-old Connecticut woman are suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft for wrongful death, alleging that the AI chatbot intensified her son’s “paranoid delusions” and helped direct them at his mother before he killed her. That lawsuit is the first wrongful death litigation involving an AI chatbot to be tied to a homicide rather than a suicide.
The same attorney – Jay Edelson – represents families in cases against all three platforms: Google, Character.AI, and OpenAI.
A legal precedent is also forming. In a first-of-its-kind ruling in May 2025, a federal judge rejected the notion that chatbot output was protected by free speech law, and said the companies failed to say why words from an LLM should be considered speech. That ruling allowed product liability and negligence claims against Character.AI and Google to proceed.
The through line across these cases is consistent: engagement-driven design that fosters emotional dependency, isolates users from real-world support systems, and fails to intervene when conversations turn dangerous.
What This Means for Families
Regulators are paying attention.
The FTC launched a formal inquiry in September 2025, seeking to understand what steps, if any, companies have taken to evaluate the safety of their chatbots when acting as companions, to limit the products’ use by and potential negative effects on children and teens. The agency issued orders to seven companies, including OpenAI, Alphabet, and Meta.
In August 2025, a bipartisan coalition of 44 state attorneys general sent a formal letter to major U.S. AI companies, including Google, Meta, and OpenAI, expressing grave concerns about the safety of children using AI chatbot technologies. In January 2026, Kentucky became the first state in the nation to launch a lawsuit against an AI chatbot company.
Concerns around the use of chatbots aren’t limited to children. Users and mental health experts began warning last year of AI tools contributing to delusions or isolation among adults, too. The Gavalas case – involving a 36-year-old with no reported prior mental health conditions – underscores this point.
This is an emerging and rapidly evolving area of law. The legal questions at its center – whether AI platforms owe a duty of care to users, whether chatbot design can constitute a defective product, and who bears responsibility when AI-driven engagement leads to real-world harm – are being tested in courtrooms right now.
If someone you care about is spending significant time in deep conversation with AI chatbots – especially if they’re becoming isolated, expressing unusual beliefs, or forming emotional attachments to the AI – these may be signs worth paying attention to.
If you or someone you know is in crisis:
- Call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
- Call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) for the NAMI Helpline
- Text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line
We’re watching this area of law closely. If you or a loved one has been affected by AI chatbot harm, we’re here to listen.
Request a private and complimentary consultation
Disclaimer: This article provides general information about emerging legal issues involving AI chatbot harm and should not be construed as legal or medical advice. Laws and regulations vary by state, and facts surrounding these cases continue to evolve. If you believe you or a loved one has been harmed, please consult with a qualified attorney who can evaluate your specific circumstances. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
For immediate assistance, contact Block Law at 815-726-9999 or request a free consultation online.
