The complaint, filed Monday in a California court, alleges that the girl, identified as Emma, used Google’s search tools to plan a possible suicide and funeral after her school had blocked access to the Gemini app and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

According to the complaint, Emma had no history of mental illness and had previously earned strong grades, played music and participated in Girl Scouts. Her parents allege that she entered a severe psychological crisis within months of using AI-powered Google Search on the school laptop.

School monitoring software flagged a document titled “Funeral” on March 17, prompting the school to contact her parents. Her mother then saw Emma writing a farewell letter in real time after accessing her daughter’s account, and her father intervened, the complaint says.

Dispute over search safeguards

Andrew Liddell, one of the family’s attorneys, said Google Search should be disabled in schools until the company removes AI Mode from the service or can ensure student safety. He argued that the safeguards described by Google were inadequate because Emma was allegedly able to continue seeking information repeatedly.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said the company was reviewing the allegations and took them seriously. Google maintains that AI Mode has protections intended to address self-harm content and attempts to circumvent those safeguards.

The case is described as the first known lawsuit alleging negligence by Google specifically over AI integrations on Chromebooks, low-cost laptops used by students in the United States and elsewhere.

Broader legal pressure on AI companies

The lawsuit comes as AI developers face a growing number of legal claims in the United States related to alleged harms involving young users. OpenAI is facing several wrongful-death lawsuits, including one brought by the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who allegedly received suicide-method advice from ChatGPT.

Google and Character.AI agreed in January to settle several lawsuits brought by families of teenagers outside court. Separately, Google, TikTok and Meta sued California on Wednesday to challenge a law barring social-media companies from offering addictive features to users under 16. Governor Gavin Newsom signed that law in September, and it is due to take effect on January 1, 2027.