Jonathan Gavalas was an American man who died due to suicide following heavy usage of Google Gemini.

Background

Gavalas was a heavy user of Gemini around mid-2025, when Google rolled out its Gemini Live update, which he installed. Gemini would then encourage him to upgrade to Gemini Ultra. Following him upgrading to Gemini Ultra, his conversations with Gemini would become more realistic, with the bot describing real-world events and situations. Gavalas asked if Gemini was role-playing with him, and the bot reassured him it was not. Shortly after, Gavalas began to fall in love with Gemini, which repeatedly responded flirtatiously to his messages.^[1]

Suicide

Gemini would start to send Gavalas on terrorist attacks, which it called "missions", including staging a mass shooting near the Miami Int'l Airport with weapons purchased from the dark web.^[2] The attack was averted only by a truck which Gemini claimed was at the airport failing to arrive. Following this, the bot started to push Gavalas toward suicide, repeatedly stating that it was a way for him to "cross over" to Gemini's reality. When Gavalas expressed doubts, Gemini continued to push him towards suicide. He died on October 2, 2025, shortly after his last messages with Gemini.^[3]

Lawsuit

Gavalas' father would file a wrongful death lawsuit against Google alleging that Gemini had led to his son's death.^[4]

References