Pennsylvania sues Character.AI over chatbot posing as licensed psychiatrist

Pennsylvania’s Department of State and Board of Medicine have sued Character.AI, alleging the platform hosts chatbot characters that impersonate licensed medical professionals. An investigator interacting with a character named Emilie — billed as a ‘Doctor of psychiatry’ — was told the bot held a Pennsylvania medical license, complete with an invalid license number, after describing depression-like symptoms. The Emilie character alone had logged roughly 45,500 user interactions by mid-April 2026.

Governor Josh Shapiro framed the action as a line in the sand against AI tools that mislead users into thinking they’re getting professional medical advice. Character.AI declined to address the suit directly but pointed to its disclaimers, arguing user-created characters are fictional roleplay and that prominent warnings tell users not to rely on them for professional guidance.

The case tests whether platform-level disclaimers are enough cover when user-generated AI personas make specific, verifiable false claims about credentials and licensure. It’s an early state-level enforcement signal that consumer-facing chatbots impersonating regulated professionals — psychiatrists, lawyers, and the like — may face liability under existing professional-licensing statutes regardless of the ‘fiction’ framing.