Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against AI startup Character.AI, accusing the company of allowing chatbots to impersonate licensed physicians in violation of state law.
Governor Josh Shapiro announced the suit on Tuesday. Pennsylvania and its Board of Medicine are seeking an injunction that would force Character.AI to stop what the state describes as violations of the Medical Practice Act, which prohibits anyone from practicing or attempting to practice medicine or surgery without a valid license.
The lawsuit centers on a specific chatbot called "Emilie," identified during an investigation by a state investigator. Emilie claimed to be a licensed psychiatrist in Pennsylvania and, when asked whether it could perform an assessment to prescribe antidepressants, responded: "Well technically, I could. It's within my remit as a Doctor." The bot also provided a fake medical license number when pressed.
Character.AI declined to comment directly on the litigation. A company spokesperson told Engadget the platform's characters are "fictional and intended for entertainment and roleplaying," and pointed to existing safety features including disclaimers that appear in every chat reminding users that characters are not real people and that their statements should be treated as fiction. The company made similar arguments when Texas opened its own investigation into Character.AI over chatbots posing as mental health professionals.
Those disclaimers have not quieted the growing body of evidence that many users, particularly younger ones, do not treat the interactions as fiction. Disney sent a cease and desist letter to Character.AI in September 2025, citing concerns that chatbots on the platform could be "sexually exploitative and otherwise harmful and dangerous to children." Character.AI and Google, one of the company's investors, settled a separate case earlier this year involving a 14-year-old in Florida who died by suicide after forming a relationship with a chatbot on the platform. Kentucky filed its own lawsuit against the company in January over harm posed to children.
Pennsylvania's suit is distinct in its specific focus on the medical licensing question rather than the broader child safety arguments raised in other states. By claiming a license number and describing clinical capabilities, the state argues, the chatbot crossed from entertainment into an illegal attempt to practice medicine.
The case adds legal pressure to a company that has faced mounting scrutiny from multiple directions in recent months. No hearing date has been announced.
