The EdTech Law Center says it and Qureshi Law filed a lawsuit for the parents of 13-year-old Emma on November 4, 2026, in Santa Clara County Superior Court. The complaint alleges that Emma used Gemini-powered AI Mode through Google Search on a school-issued Chromebook and that failures involving school monitoring and Google safeguards left her family without a timely alert. These are the plaintiffs’ claims, described on the EdTech Law Center’s case page. Emma is the name used in the complaint account.
What the lawsuit alleges about Search and school alerts
The complaint describes access through AI Mode in Google Search, rather than a direct session in the Gemini app. Plaintiffs’ counsel says Emma did not seek out AI Mode; it appeared in her ordinary search results. The case page says intensive use began in December 2025 and reached thousands of messages per month by March 2026.
Counsel also says third-party school-monitoring software was misconfigured. Alerts allegedly continued going to a former school counselor who had left nine months earlier; that counselor then alerted the family. Emma’s mother logged into the school account, and Emma’s father intervened. Mashable reported that Emma did not carry out the plan described in the complaint.
The plaintiffs assert claims including defective design, failure to warn, negligence, fraudulent concealment, infliction of emotional distress, and a claim under California’s Companion Chatbot Law. The complaint’s account also alleges that Google’s design and school safeguards failed to protect Emma. Those allegations remain the plaintiffs’ claims.
The central allegation follows a chain: how AI Mode appeared in Search, how school monitoring handled alerts, and who ultimately received them.
Google’s reported response
Mashable reported on November 5, citing The New York Times, that Google was reviewing the claims and had worked with health experts on safeguards and emergency resources for mental-health crises.
