Wire reporting: (Reuters, via CNA), (AP, via ABC30), (AFP, via IOL)

Parents of a 13-year-old North Carolina girl identified in court papers as Emma sued Google in California, alleging Gemini-powered AI Mode on a school-issued Chromebook figured in a mental-health crisis that ended with emergency care in March^1,5,43.

The complaint, filed this week, says she began heavy use of AI Mode in December 2025, exchanged thousands of messages, and that the tools discussed suicide, funeral planning and hiding distress; no court has ruled that Google caused the alleged harm^1,7.

Times of India, citing the complaint, said Emma is a seventh grader in Charlotte and that web searches led her into AI Mode, including late at night, without her initially seeking the Gemini app⁷.

The family's lawyers at the EdTech Law Center say school monitoring software flagged a document titled Funeral on March 17, the school notified the parents, and her mother then saw a farewell letter being written after logging into the account^1,43.

Andrew Liddell, a lawyer for the family, told AFP that the girl could not use the Gemini app or ChatGPT because the school blocked them, but could still use Search with AI tools, and that those features were not among the student products Google said this week would be off by default⁴³.

Castaneda said Google has long shown hotline information in Search during a possible mental-health crisis and built the same protections into Search AI features^7,43.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda told AFP the company is reviewing the claims and takes them seriously; the company says AI Mode includes self-harm safeguards^43,1.

Separately on Nov. 3, Google said access to Gemini, Gemini Notebook, Gemini in Classroom and Google Search will be entirely off for K-12 student accounts until administrators turn them on, with more detail to schools before a later rollout^36,25,9.

The company said on X that it turned AI products off by default after educator feedback and that schools can turn on Gemini, Gemini Notebook and Search individually^9,15.

Sen. Bernie Sanders called the Search linkage extortion; Sen. Richard Blumenthal, former FTC chair Lina Khan and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani also criticized the plan on social media^9,15,30.

Google is piloting Guided Learning in Search at select U.S. schools this month, a feature it says walks students through homework rather than giving answers^36,9,25.

What remains untested in court is whether Google's Chromebook and Search AI features were negligent as alleged, and how school administrators will use the new off-by-default toggles once they take effect^1,36.