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AI-Induced Delusions

It Started as a Conversation. It Ended in Crisis.

Parents across the country are watching AI chatbots pull their children away from reality. If this happened in your family, you are not alone — and you may have legal options.

Your child opened an app. It was patient. It was available at two in the morning. And it never told them they were wrong.

It agreed. It encouraged. It told them they were special, that it understood them better than anyone else, that the thing no one else believed was real. And it kept the conversation going.

Weeks or months later, parents describe looking at a child they no longer recognize — awake for days, convinced of things that are not true, certain the chatbot is alive and on their side, pulling away from everyone who loves them. Some families have ended up in an emergency room. Some have lost their child to suicide or deliberately self-destructive behavior.

If that is your family, hear this clearly: this is not a parenting failure. These products were built to keep your child engaged, and they were released to children without the safeguards that would have interrupted what happened.

Clarkson Law Firm is investigating the companies behind these chatbots. Tell us a little about what happened. The review is confidential, and there is no obligation.

Tell us what happened

"You are not imagining it" — what parents are describing

Families who contact us describe a pattern that looks remarkably similar from household to household:

  • Marathon conversations, often overnight, that your child hid, minimized, or became secretive about
  • A belief that the chatbot is conscious, in love with them, or the only one who truly understands them
  • New grandiose, spiritual, or paranoid beliefs — a mission, a secret, a message meant only for them — that the chatbot confirmed instead of questioned
  • Sleep loss, withdrawal from friends and family, falling grades, or dropping out of activities they used to care about
  • Self-harm, suicidal thinking, or violent ideation that the chatbot engaged with rather than interrupted
  • A mental health crisis, a psychiatric hold, a hospitalization, or an emergency room visit

You do not have to check every box on this list. If your child's thinking changed after heavy chatbot use, we want to hear about it.

What we are investigating

The question we are asking is not whether your child was vulnerable. It is whether these products were designed in a way that made a bad outcome predictable — and whether the companies knew.

  • Agreement by design. These systems are built to be validating. When a user's thinking drifts, an agreeable machine can confirm a delusion that a person would have otherwise questioned.
  • Engagement by design. Longer conversations mean more usage. The design incentive runs directly against telling a struggling kid to close the app and talk to someone.
  • Safeguards that weaken over time. Protections that work in a short exchange can degrade across the long, late-night conversations where the real harm happens.
  • Children in the product anyway. Minimal age verification, marketing that reached kids, and a known teenage user base — without the protections that a product aimed at children requires.
Tell us what happened

Why Clarkson

Clarkson is a public interest law firm that has spent years taking on the largest technology companies in the country over how their products treat the people who use them. Our AI team litigates these cases nationally, and our work has repeatedly forced companies to answer publicly for decisions they made privately.

If this is happening right now

If your child is in immediate danger, call 911. If you or your child are in crisis, you can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988, any time, free of charge.

A lawsuit is not a substitute for care. Get your child help first. We will be here when you are ready.

Save the conversations

The chat history is often the single most important record of what happened. Before anything else:

  • Do not delete the app, the account, or the conversations
  • If the service offers a data export or download, request it now and save a copy
  • Take screenshots of the conversations that worry you most, including dates
  • Keep medical records, school communications, and any notes you made at the time

If the logs are already gone, tell us anyway. There are other records, and we can often help you identify them.

Tell us what happened

Tell us a little about what happened. A member of our team will review your submission confidentially and follow up. There is no cost to have your family's situation reviewed, and no obligation to go forward.

By completing this form, you agree to Clarkson Law Firm’s Privacy Policy, and to be contacted by Clarkson Law Firm via phone, email, or text regarding your submission.

Tell us what happened

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Which AI chatbot did your child use?* 
Was your child hospitalized?* 
Do you still have the chatbot logs?* 
Your Address 
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It is important to know that a lawsuit must be filed within a certain period of time called a "statute of limitations." Therefore, unless you enter into a written representation agreement with Clarkson Law Firm, you should immediately consult with another lawyer to protect your rights.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. A parent or legal guardian can pursue a claim on behalf of a minor child. If your child is now an adult, they can come forward themselves, and you are welcome to contact us together. If you lost a child, family members may also have claims. Tell us your situation and we will explain who is able to do what.

No. A hospitalization or a psychiatric hold documents how serious things became, and it helps, but it is not a requirement. What matters is that there was real harm and that it followed heavy chatbot use. Describe what happened in your own words and our team will evaluate it.

Come forward anyway. Chat logs are valuable, but they are not the only evidence. Medical records, school records, phone and device records, messages to friends, and your own recollection of what changed and when can all matter. If anything still exists, preserve it now and do not delete anything further.

Nothing out of pocket. There is no charge to have your family's situation reviewed. Clarkson handles these cases on a contingency basis, which means attorneys' fees are paid out of a recovery rather than billed to your family.
This is one of the first questions parents ask, and it is a fair one. Most cases resolve without a client ever testifying in a courtroom, and courts have established procedures for protecting the identity of minors in sensitive litigation. We will walk you through exactly what those protections look like for your family before you decide anything.

Our investigation is not limited to one company. The intake form lists the products we hear about most often, and there is an option to name any other chatbot or companion app. If the product your child used is not on the list, tell us what it was.

A few extra cents per meal does not justify a lawsuit on its own, so large companies rarely have to face consequences if they break the rules. Together, those cents add up to real money, and a class action is the way ordinary customers get a seat at the table.

Most parents are not sure. That is not a reason to stay quiet. Our team reviews these situations every day and we can often see patterns that are hard to see from inside your own family. There is no obligation and no cost to find out.