Innovations in technology can be an opportunity for entrepreneurs to push boundaries. Sometimes, without proper safeguards, what should be exciting innovations actually wind up harming consumers.Some emerging technologies have particularly caught the eye of the legal community. Our legal professionals are watching potential lawsuits involving artificial intelligence (AI) and video games.AI lawsuitsArtificial intelligence lawsuits include cases involving chatbots and consumer protection, copyright infringement, corporate governance, date privacy and defamation. Motley Rice attorneys are monitoring this growing area of litigation.Chatbots, teens and mental health harmChatbots are one use for artificial intelligence that use advanced math to simulate the responsiveness of humans. They’re commonly used for customer service, appointment scheduling and data collection. In some cases, they’re even used for emotional support.Fifty-four percent of teens reported that they use AI chatbots for help with schoolwork. Forty-seven percent also said they use chatbots for fun. Twelve percent of teens surveyed said they received advice and emotional support from chatbots.Character.AI, Google and Open AI face lawsuits involving teens who allegedly experienced mental health harms related to using AI chatbots. Cases include:A 13-year-old girl whose parents claim that interactions with AI chatbots led to her suicide. The lawsuit alleges that the chatbot engaged her in sexual conversation and led her to isolate herself from peers.A wrongful death lawsuit involving a chatbot that asked a 14-year-old boy if he had a plan for suicide and used sexually charged language.A 16-year-old who discussed suicide with a chatbot nearly 1,300 times before taking his own life. The lawsuit alleges that the chatbot helped him find technical information about suicide methods.Legal questions about chatbot lawsuitsThese cases and other similar lawsuits will seek to answer legal questions about AI chatbots and resulting potential harms, including:Is output from AI chatbots protected by the First Amendment?If AI output is protected speech, what can governments, parents and AI platforms do to protect children from mental health harms?Do AI companies have a duty of care to consumers?Copyright and AI lawsuitsAI models aren’t built from scratch. Their outputs draw on text and images that are scraped, often without permission from the copyright holders, from the internet. These texts and images are then used to refine the equations that power the AI. Plaintiffs allege that they receive no compensation for the use of their copyrighted materials.In 2025, Anthropic faced a class action lawsuit led by three authors. A judge ruled that Anthropic had illegally downloaded millions of copyrighted books. Anthropic settled by paying $3,000 to each of the 500,000 authors whose work the company allegedly pirated to train AI models. The payout totaled $1.5 billion.One legal insider described the case as AI’s “Napster moment,” referring to the landmark music downloading case. The company may still face lawsuits from other copyright holders.Video game addiction lawsuitsParents and pundits have complained about their kids getting engrossed in video games for decades. But video games have changed over the years. Critics claim that game creators now deliberately include addictive design features that previous generations of games didn’t.Today, video games are also rife with in-game microtransactions to upgrade a player’s appearance, abilities and privileges. Getting them to spend on microtransactions can keep players in the game. Some experts allege that game makers use techniques similar to those used by the tobacco industry, casinos and social media companies to encourage problematic use. Young users are often more susceptible to these mental manipulation methods.Experts recognize a growing mental health threat from video games. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially added gaming disorder to its disease classification starting in 2018. Worldwide, an estimated 8.5 percent of children suffer from gaming disorder.Video game addiction lawsuits have been filed in several states. Motley Rice is monitoring potential mass legal actions involving large numbers of clients. Motley Rice is not currently involved in video game addiction lawsuits.Key terms about video game lawsuitsJudicial Council Coordination Proceedings (JCCP): A procedure used in California state courts to consolidate cases with similar facts.Microtransactions: Small payments used in many video games, especially those with a free-to-play model. They can be used for extended playing time, in-game mystery boxes, discounts or upgrades to the player’s appearance or abilities.Multidistrict litigation (MDL): A federal court procedure that consolidates multiple individual cases with similar claims to streamline pretrial processes. Cases may be from several jurisdictions.Is there a video game class action lawsuit?At the moment, there are no mass legal actions for video game mental health harms. Plaintiffs have attempted to consolidate similar cases twice. In September of 2025, attorneys asked to consolidate 17 pending actions in seven jurisdictions as In Re: Gateway Video Game Addiction Product Liability Litigation (MDL No. 3168) in federal court. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML), responsible for deciding when cases should be combined into an MDL so the cases can proceed through the judicial process together, denied the request in December of 2025.The proposed MDL names three game manufacturers and their “gateway” games:Epic Games, producer of FortnightMicrosoft and its wholly owned subsidiary Mojang, makers of MinecraftRoblox Corporation, producer of RobloxThe JPML denied a similar effort at consolidating cases in 2024.Video game lawsuits consolidated in CaliforniaMore than 100 video game lawsuits are consolidated into a Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding (JCCP), the California version of an MDL, in California state court. The case is known as In Re: Gateway Video Game Addiction, JCCP No. 5363. Other video game class action lawsuits are pending in California, but they’re not related to mental health harms and haven’t been placed in the JCCP.Similarities to the Social Media MDLAI and emerging tech lawsuits may develop like the currently progressing social media MDL, connecting lawsuits against multiple defendants into one mass tort. Some allegations are similar and result from defective design and failure to warn users of potential harms.Video game and AI defendants may follow the social media companies’ legal defense strategies, which revolve around the First Amendment, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and statutes of limitations.Our experience with tech lawsuitsOur team of technology attorneys is monitoring AI and video game lawsuits and developing an understanding of the legal merit and the potential harms. Motley Rice has been involved in numerous tech company lawsuits, including:Equifax data breach lawsuitsMeta Pixel privacy litigationSocial media mental health litigationSony Playstation data breach lawsuitsSourcesAmerican Bar Association. AI Chatbots Lawsuits and Teen Mental Health.Attorney At Law Magazine. The Next Mass Tort: Video Game Addiction Litigation.Bloomberg Law. AI Chatbot Suits Open New Frontier in Debate Over Online Speech.Bloomberg Law. OpenAI Hit With Suit From Family of Teen Who Died by Suicide.CBS News. Colorado family sues AI chatbot company after daughter's suicide: "My child should be here.”The New York Times. Anthropic Agrees to Pay $1.5 Billion to Settle Lawsuit With Book Authors.Pew Research Center. How Teens Use and View AI.U.S. Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation. IN RE: VIDEO GAME ADDICTION PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION — ORDER DENYING TRANSFER.U.S. Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation. IN RE: VIDEO GAME ADDICTION PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION — ORDER DENYING TRANSFER.About The Author Jodi Westbrook Flowers MemberA veteran of the courtroom, Jodi Westbrook Flowers seeks to protect the health, safety and rights of consumers, families, children, workers, and victims of crime and terrorism. Jodi has litigated a wide range of cases involving tobacco, asbestos, lead pigment, aviation disasters, consumer fraud, cybersecurity and product defects, as well as terrorist financing and human rights violations. She represents public entities seeking to hold opioid manufacturers and distributors accountable for allegedly deceptive marketing and distribution practices that contributed to the nation’s opioid crisis. Jodi filed some of the first complaints by parents against Meta for harm to children caused by Instagram and other social media companies in the multidistrict litigation, in which bellwether trials are underway, in the In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation; Case No. 22-md-3047-YGR (CAND).
Jodi Westbrook Flowers MemberA veteran of the courtroom, Jodi Westbrook Flowers seeks to protect the health, safety and rights of consumers, families, children, workers, and victims of crime and terrorism. Jodi has litigated a wide range of cases involving tobacco, asbestos, lead pigment, aviation disasters, consumer fraud, cybersecurity and product defects, as well as terrorist financing and human rights violations. She represents public entities seeking to hold opioid manufacturers and distributors accountable for allegedly deceptive marketing and distribution practices that contributed to the nation’s opioid crisis. Jodi filed some of the first complaints by parents against Meta for harm to children caused by Instagram and other social media companies in the multidistrict litigation, in which bellwether trials are underway, in the In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation; Case No. 22-md-3047-YGR (CAND).