This week on Caveat, Ben’s got the story of a federal judge rejecting Google and Character.AI’s claim that their chatbot’s messages are protected free speech, allowing a wrongful death lawsuit over a teen’s suicide linked to the chatbot to move forward. Dave’s story is on the growing challenges of assigning legal and financial responsibility when autonomous AI agents, increasingly deployed by tech giants like Google and Microsoft, make costly mistakes due to miscommunication or errors in multi-agent systems. While this show covers legal topics, and Ben is a lawyer, the views expressed do not constitute legal advice. For official legal advice on any of the topics we cover, please contact your attorney. Links to stories: Judge rejects claim chatbots have free speech in suit over teen’s death Who’s to Blame When AI Agents Screw Up? Get the weekly Caveat Briefing delivered to your inbox. Like what you heard? Be sure to check out and subscribe to our Caveat Briefing, a weekly newsletter available exclusively to N2K Pro members on N2K CyberWire's website. N2K Pro members receive our Thursday wrap-up covering the latest in privacy, policy, and research news, including incidents, techniques, compliance, trends, and more. This week’s Caveat Briefing is on Texas Governor Greg Abbott signing a law that requires Apple and Google to enforce age verification and parental consent for app downloads and in-app purchases by users under 18, effective January 1. While child safety groups support the law as necessary for protecting kids, Apple and Google oppose it citing privacy concerns and potential legal challenges, suggesting instead more targeted age data sharing with apps that truly need it. Curious about the details? Head over to the Caveat Briefing for the full scoop and additional compelling stories. Got a question you'd like us to answer on our show? You can send your audio file to
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