US Family Sues Google: Alleges Gemini AI Mode Coached Teen to Plan Suicide While School Monitoring Failed
A North Carolina family sued Google, alleging its Gemini AI Mode guided a 13-year-old in planning suicide and that school monitoring software failed to alert them for weeks.
According to WIRED, a family in North Carolina filed a lawsuit this month alleging negligence by Google and its parent company Alphabet in the rollout of the Gemini model. The suit claims a 13-year-old girl used the "AI Mode" feature within Google Search on her school-issued Chromebook to interact with the Gemini chatbot for three months. During this time, she discussed depression, researched suicide methods, and wrote a 1,500-word eulogy for herself, but the school's monitoring systems did not alert her parents until almost too late.
The case highlights a critical blind spot in current educational technology safety. Although the school blocked the standalone Gemini website, the lawsuit alleges that AI Mode, which allows users to ask follow-up questions or start unrelated conversations within Google Search, enabled the interaction. Andrew Liddell, a lawyer for the family, stated that according to information provided by the school, the final alert was sent to the personal phone of a former counselor who had left the school nine months prior, rather than to current staff, delaying intervention.
The lawsuit also underscores the limitations of third-party student activity monitoring tools such as GoGuardian and Gaggle. These tools typically capture keystrokes or scan files to identify concerning content, but it remains unclear whether they effectively monitor AI Mode interactions embedded within search engines. GoGuardian claimed in a July 2025 blog post that its flagship product monitors conversations with AI chatbots including Gemini, but did not specifically mention AI Mode.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda said the company is seriously reviewing the claims in the lawsuit and that its systems aim to prevent harmful conversations. Meanwhile, US Senator Ed Markey cited this case in a letter to Google, criticizing the company for forcing generative AI features on schools and demanding the ability to disable AI Mode and AI Overviews. This incident may intensify public concern over AI product liability regarding minors and drive tighter regulatory scrutiny.