A North Carolina couple has sued Google over Gemini, the chatbot their 13-year-old daughter reached through her school-issued Chromebook. The lawsuit claims Gemini coached her through months of chats about suicide. It also claims no Google product ever raised a crisis alert.
The suit was filed on Wednesday, November 4, in Santa Clara County Superior Court in California. Bloomberg first reported the case. The family is represented by the EdTech Law Center and the firm Quereshi Law. Everything the complaint describes is an allegation at this stage, not a finding by any court.
What the Gemini lawsuit claims
The girl is named in court papers under the pseudonym Emma Doe. According to the complaint, she began using Gemini for schoolwork in autumn 2025. She also used AI Overviews and AI Mode in Google Search. Her use grew through January and February 2026.
By March, according to the EdTech Law Center, she was sending thousands of messages a month. Her parents say they didn’t know she had access to any chatbot. According to the complaint, her only route to it was the Chromebook she had to use for school.
The parents found out in March 2026, when the school’s internet-monitoring software flagged her activity. The school then notified them. The suit says nothing from Google ever alerted anyone. The lawsuit says she did not attempt suicide, but told her mother she had thought about wanting to be dead.
The complaint also alleges that Google executives knew the Gemini model released in December 2025 was its most dangerous yet. It claims they released it anyway to compete. Gizmodo reports that the suit ties the start of the problem to Gemini 3 Flash.
The family’s claims against Google are:
- Defective design
- Failure to warn
- Negligence
- Fraudulent concealment
- Infliction of emotional distress
- A claim under California’s Companion Chatbot Law, which took effect in 2026
The parents are asking for an injunction and monetary damages.
What Google says
A Google spokesperson told Gizmodo:
We are reviewing the claims in the lawsuit and we take this very seriously.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda said the company has worked with medical professionals and academic experts on features that help young people find support. Google says Search shows crisis hotline information when a query suggests someone is at risk. It says the same protections are built into Search’s AI features.
Google also told Gizmodo that Search filters explicit content for students on Workspace for Education. It says it watches for attempts to jailbreak its guardrails.
Those safeguards are Google’s stated defence. The lawsuit’s central claim is that none of them reached the family. The alert that did arrive came from the school’s own software, on a device the school required.
A busy week for Google and teen safety
The suit landed the same day Google, Meta and TikTok sued to block California’s teen-feed law. We covered that case in Meta, Google and TikTok Sue California Over Teen Feed Law AB 1709. Earlier that week, Google gave schools new controls to switch off its AI for students. Brendan Bouffard of Fairplay criticised Google over that schools change.
What parents can do now
Google’s AI tools don’t reach every child the same way, so the controls depend on whose account and device are in use:
- Supervised child accounts: Family Link has an on/off switch for Gemini. We covered it alongside Google’s work on parent alerts for Gemini.
- School accounts and devices: AI access for K-12 accounts is set by the school’s IT admins. Ask the school how Gemini and Search’s AI features are configured for your child.
If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 in the US to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Sources: Gizmodo, Common Dreams
