Can You Sue Over Assurances Made by Company’s Customer Service AI Chatbot?
From Magistrate Judge Alex Tse’s opinion today in Smith v. Substack, Inc.:
Prior to the filing of this case, there was a series of interactions between Smith and the Doe defendant. Smith alleges that this unknown defendant posted unflattering statements about Smith on Cancel Watch, a blog site hosted by Substack. Smith initiated contact with Substack, including twenty to thirty “complaints and queries by email” between July and September 2023, all to no avail. Substack did not respond to any of Smith’s emails regarding Cancel Watch.
In February, March, April, and May of 2024, Smith asked a series of questions to a chatbot found in the support section of Substack’s website. Smith asked, “do you respond to complaints,” and the chatbot responded, “Yes, we respond to all complaints.” He also asked, “do you respond to every complaint,” and “do you always [all of the time], respond to complaints?,” to which the chatbot responded with the same answer or a very similar one. Id. Smith then asked, “does Substack respond to emails?” and “Will you certainly respond to emails?,” the chatbot said, “Yes, Substack responds to emails” in response to both inquiries. Smith alleges that the answers from the chatbot are the same for “queries,” and that Substack says it will respond to reports. However, regardless of its chatbot’s replies, Substack itself never did respond to Smith’s inquiries, or to his follow-up inquiries asking why the company was ignoring him….
Smith sued Substack under a promissory estoppel theory, which is related to breach of contract. No, said the court:
The chatbot’s responses to Smith, however, are not sufficiently defi
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