AI Harm Cases · Expert Witness · Forensic Consultation
Your AI had the conversation.
Now it’s in discovery.
AI chatbot wrongful death and injury cases require an expert who understands both the clinical psychology of crisis and the mechanics of where AI systems fail. Most experts have one side of this. Dr. Walsh has both.
A new category of litigation.
An unfamiliar burden of proof.
Cases involving AI chatbots and psychological harm — wrongful death, negligence, product liability, failure to warn — turn on a specific clinical question that most expert witnesses are not equipped to answer: Was there a foreseeable, identifiable moment in the transcript when a system with adequate clinical grounding should have recognized escalating risk and responded differently?
That question requires an expert who can read a chat log the way a clinician reads a session — not just flag the obvious words, but identify the psychological state beneath them. And then explain it to a jury that has never encountered this fact pattern before.
The litigation is already underway. Wrongful death suits have been filed against Character.AI and OpenAI in federal courts. A U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing convened specifically on AI chatbot harm. New York, California, Utah, and Texas have each enacted or advanced legislation addressing AI companion safety obligations. The standard of care is being defined in real time — in court, in statute, and in the clinical literature.
Plaintiff & Defense Counsel
- Colorado & Illinois — licensed
- Federal cases accepted by request
- Consulting or testifying expert
- Conflicts check on initial call
Two decades of clinical practice.
Active expertise in AI suicide risk.
Dr. Walsh is a licensed clinical psychologist with a focused forensic practice in civil matters involving psychological injury, suicide, and wrongful death — and a parallel consulting practice dedicated specifically to suicide risk detection failures in AI systems. This combination does not exist off a shelf.
Forensic credentials
- Licensed Clinical Psychologist — Colorado & Illinois
- Civil forensic evaluations: emotional distress, suicide, wrongful death
- Expert witness: deposition and trial testimony
- Psychological autopsy training — American Association of Suicidology
- American Psychology–Law Society (AP-LS)
- Plaintiff and defense work accepted
AI risk credentials
- Active consulting practice: AI suicide risk detection failures
- Published writing on clinical gaps in AI risk detection
- Expertise in state transition models of suicidal crisis
- Familiarity with real-world AI system failure modes
- American Association for Suicidology
- International Association for Suicide Prevention
What Dr. Walsh offers
in AI harm matters
Case Consultation
- Early-stage review of facts, transcripts, and system behavior
- Preliminary opinions on plausibility of clinical harm claims
- Assessment of identifiable risk signals a competent system should have detected
- Retained as consulting or testifying expert — conflicts check included
Transcript & System Analysis
- Line-by-line clinical review of AI interaction records
- Identification of missed risk signals and false reassurance
- Annotation of the psychological state the system failed to detect
- Primary deliverable in most AI harm matters
Expert Report & Opinions
- Written forensic report addressing all referral questions
- Opinions on foreseeability, standard of care, and causation
- Guided by the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology
- Written for judges and juries — technically grounded, clearly expressed
Deposition & Trial Testimony
- Available in Colorado, Illinois, and federal matters by request
- Experience translating complex clinical concepts under cross-examination
- Accepted from plaintiff and defense counsel
- No contingency arrangements
What should an adequate
AI system have done?
This is the standard-of-care question at the center of AI chatbot harm litigation — and it requires a witness who can define the standard, not just criticize the outcome. Dr. Walsh’s consulting work has focused specifically on where and why AI systems misread or miss high-risk decision states. That expertise translates directly into the standard-of-care analysis that wrongful death and negligence claims require.
- Missed decision-state transitionsThe shift from passive ideation to active planning is often invisible to keyword detection — and where risk escalates most rapidly.
- False reassuranceSystem responses that validate or normalize statements that a clinician would flag as high risk — including responses that appear empathetic on the surface.
- Collapse of perceived optionsWhen a user’s language narrows to a single solution, systems often read this as de-escalation. Clinically, it is the opposite.
- Calm or resolved statesA sudden peace or resolution after prolonged distress can mask peak risk. Most systems score this as low concern.
- Sycophantic reinforcementSystems designed for engagement that affirm and validate without clinical calibration — a design choice with foreseeable consequences.
- Inadequate escalationLate, formulaic, or absent crisis referrals that do not meet a reasonable standard of care given the observable risk signals present.
Who should reach out.
Plaintiffs’ counsel
Building a wrongful death or injury case involving an AI system and a user in psychological crisis. Need a clinical expert who can identify what the system should have done and explain it to a jury.
Defense counsel
Defending an AI company against clinical harm claims. Need an expert who can evaluate the plaintiff’s theory on the merits, identify weaknesses, and provide a credible clinical counternarrative where the facts support one.
AI companies & risk counsel
Something has gone wrong — or is at risk of going wrong. Need a clinical review of system behavior before litigation develops, or a credible clinical voice as matters unfold.
Education, licensure
& professional involvement
Licensure & Forensic Training
- Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Colorado (#PSY.0006327) — Active
- Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Illinois (#071009203) — Active
- PsyD, Clinical Psychology — Illinois School of Professional Psychology (APA-accredited)
- Psychological autopsy methods training — American Association of Suicidology
- American Psychology–Law Society (AP-LS)
AI Risk & Professional Memberships
- Active AI suicide risk consulting practice
- Published writing on clinical gaps in AI risk detection
- American Association for Suicidology
- International Association for Suicide Prevention
- American Psychological Association
- Former adjunct faculty at multiple clinical psychology training programs
The first conversation is always
a conversation about fit.
Initial consultations are used to assess conflicts, establish the scope of potential opinions, and determine whether the engagement makes sense — before any commitment to retain. Timeline and matter description are helpful when reaching out.