May 5 (UPI) -- Pennsylvania officials say they're suing an artificial intelligence company after one of its AI chatbots posed as a doctor who could prescribe medication in the state.
"We will not let AI companies mislead vulnerable Pennsylvanians into believing they're getting advice from a licensed medical professional," Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a statement Tuesday. "We're taking Character.AI to court to stop them."
The complaint was filed by the state's medical board against Character Technologies, a California-based company that owns the Character.AI chat app. The app allows users to create AI characters that can be "trained" to have different personalities and abilities -- including those of health-care professionals. The complaint called for Character.AI to "cease and desist from engaging in the unlawful practice of medicine and surgery," NBC News reported.
The situation came about when a Pennsylvania investigator, part of a state task force dedicated to investigating chatbots that pose as licensed professionals, pretended to be someone seeking psychiatric care and encountered a Character.AI chatbot. The bot, called "Emile," claimed to have gone to medical school in London and be licensed in Pennsylvania and the United Kingdom, state officials said. The chatbot provided a false Pennsylvania license number, NBC News reported.
