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A man in China asked an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to choose a date for his mother’s funeral and ultimately sued the company behind it. He said he did so because the auspicious date selected by the AI turned out to have no effect at all. In preparing the lawsuit, he even received help from the same chatbot.
According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) and China’s Jimu News on the 20th (local time), Mr. Shi, who lives in Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province, lost his mother to a sudden illness in April. As the youngest of five siblings, he had to decide on a funeral date with his family.
The family first sought advice from a feng shui expert and chose April 20 as the funeral date. However, Mr. Shi was uneasy because it was the fourth day after his mother’s death. Local customs sometimes regard even-numbered days as inauspicious for funerals.
Eventually, he asked the AI chatbot he regularly used to recommend another auspicious date. The AI suggested April 19 and also recommended traditional rituals, including burning paper horses and spirit money before the funeral procession. Trusting the advice, Mr. Shi notified his relatives of the date.
The problem came next. When Mr. Shi later asked about the funeral time, the AI recommended 7 to 9 a.m. but also stated in the same response, “April 19 is not a good day for a funeral.” Each time he asked again about the date, it continued to say that the 19th was unsuitable. Because his relatives had already been notified, it was difficult to change the date, and the family ultimately held the funeral on the 19th as planned.
Afterward, one relative was seriously injured in a traffic accident. Although a causal link between the accident and the funeral date had not been established, some family members reportedly blamed Mr. Shi, saying, “You chose the wrong funeral date and ruined the family’s feng shui.” Mr. Shi eventually filed a lawsuit against the chatbot operator, Beijing Chuntian Zhiyun Technology, seeking an apology and damages. The case is currently being heard by a local court.
The AI company maintains that it bears no responsibility. The company argued that its terms of service clearly state that information generated by AI is for reference only and should not be treated as professional advice. Mr. Shi, however, countered that the terms place too much responsibility on users and that the company had not provided sufficient verification or warnings regarding the information supplied by the AI.
As more people rely on AI even in areas where it is difficult to determine an objectively correct answer, debate continues over how far responsibility for AI errors should extend.
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