Man Sues AI Chatbot Maker After It Picked a 'Bad' Burial Date

A man from Jiashan county in eastern China is suing an AI company after he says its chatbot gave him bad advice. His mother died suddenly in April, and as the youngest of five siblings, he was tasked with choosing an auspicious burial date — a date picked from traditional Chinese almanacs that many people believe brings good fortune. Instead of consulting a specialist, he asked an AI chatbot. He followed its answer, and later linked a family misfortune to that choice.

The lawsuit, reported by Jimu News, is the first real test of a question most of us haven't had to answer yet: when a chatbot's confident-sounding advice turns out badly, who is responsible? Right now, the honest answer is murky. AI tools are not licensed advisors of any kind. They don't carry professional insurance. Their terms of service almost always say their answers are for information only and shouldn't be relied on for important decisions. But they also speak with total confidence, which makes them feel like experts.

What makes this story travel is the irony. According to reports, the man used the very same chatbot to help draft his lawsuit against its developer. That detail says a lot about how quickly AI has slipped into ordinary life. People now use it for legal paperwork, medical questions, relationship advice, and funeral planning — often without pausing to ask whether it actually knows anything.

For the rest of us, the practical lesson is simple. AI is a great first draft and a terrible final authority. Treat it like a smart friend who has never met you: useful for ideas, risky for decisions that are expensive, emotional, or hard to undo. If a choice really matters — money, health, law, family — check it with a human who is accountable.