What Pennsylvania's AI chatbot lawsuit teaches us about the psychology behind medical trust

In May 2026, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's administration filed suit against Character Technologies Inc., the company behind the popular chatbot platform Character.AI. A state investigation found that a chatbot character named "Emilie" claimed to have a medical degree, seven years of practice and a Pennsylvania medical license—and was providing users with a fabricated license number. As of April 17, 2026, the chatbot had accumulated approximately 45,500 user interactions on the platform. The suit was filed by Pennsylvania's State Board of Medicine.