The Higher Regional Court of Hamm has ruled that operators of automated chatbots are liable for false information generated by their AI, in a case involving a beauty clinic. The clinic's chatbot falsely claimed that its two managing physicians were specialists in 'plastic and aesthetic surgery,' 'aesthetic medicine,' and 'aesthetic treatments'—the latter two of which are not recognized medical specialties in Germany. The physicians are not board-certified plastic surgeons. Consumer protection authorities first issued a warning and demanded a cease-and-desist declaration. Although the clinic deactivated the chatbot, it did not sign the declaration, leading to a lawsuit. The court classified the chatbot's statements as misleading commercial practices, likely to influence consumer decisions. Even if the clinic programmed the chatbot with correct data, it remains responsible for the false outputs.
This ruling follows a December 2025 decision by the Hamburg Regional Court, which held X (formerly Twitter) liable for false claims made by its Grok chatbot about a German association. The Hamburg court stated that operators must 'own' the output of their AI systems, as they configure them to publish results without review. Both rulings underscore that human operators bear legal responsibility for AI-generated misinformation.
Source: dpa
Source: Read the original report | Published: May 15, 2026