Chatbot glitches: When disclaimers won’t save you in court

THE conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) liability has moved from theoretical debates to real-world business risks. Cases about minor glitches, like a chatbot inventing a refund policy, have escalated into a crisis of product liability and professional negligence that is hitting closer to home.

A significant shift occurred in May 2025, when a US federal court allowed a wrongful death lawsuit against an AI business to proceed. The case involves a tragedy where a chatbot allegedly contributed to a teenager’s suicide. The legal argument is a wake-up call for tech deployers: the plaintiff argues the AI is not merely a service but a commercial product that was defectively designed.

Closer to home, the Singapore High Court delivered a sharp warning in September 2025. A lawyer was personally sanctioned for submitting fake case citations generated by an AI tool. The court didn’t just call it a mistake; it labelled the failure to verify the AI’s work as “improper, unreasonable and negligent”.