Healthcare AI Firm Sued Over Alleged Unlawful Disclosures of Genetic Data
Tempus AI, a publicly traded healthcare artificial intelligence company, is facing multiple class action lawsuits over the alleged unauthorized collection and disclosure of genetic testing results, which were derived from genetic testing by Ambry Genetics Corporation (Ambry Genetics).
Ambry Genetics offers comprehensive genetic testing services, including screening and diagnosis of inherited and non-inherited diseases. Tempus AI was founded in 2015 and builds tech solutions around clinical care and research products. In February 2025, Tempus AI acquired Ambry Genetics for $600 million, and as a condition of the acquisition, Ambry Genetics was required to disclose its vast database of genetic data to Tempus AI. The database contained the genetic information of hundreds of thousands of individuals.
Tempus AI used Ambry Genetics’ genetic database to train its AI models. Tempus AI had signed agreements with more than 70 companies, including large and mid-sized pharmaceutical firms such as AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline, and biotechnology firms such as Incyte, Servier, Aspera Biomedicines, and Whitehawk Therapeutics. Genetic data derived from Ambry Genetics testing services was provided to those clients under those agreements.
Several class action lawsuits were filed against Tempus AI over the use of genetic data to train the AI models and the subsequent disclosures of genetic data. The lawsuits were consolidated into a single complaint – Farrier et al v. Tempus AI, Inc. – on April 15, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The lawsuit alleges that Tempus AI violated the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) and other state statutes by compelling Ambry Genetics to disclose the genetic data collected through its testing services and violating the same laws by disclosing the genetic data through its agreements with third-party partners. The lawsuit claims that Tempus AI has profited enormously from selling genetic data without the knowledge or written consent of the data subjects. The lawsuit alleges that the class members’ genetic data was disclosed to those clients in deals totaling $1.1 billion.
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Tempus AI claims to have a clinical and molecular data library consisting of 45 million de-identified patient records, including 8.5 million clinical records, 2 million medical images, and 1 million matched clinical-genomic records. The lawsuit alleges that Tempus AI and Ambry Genetics misled the public by claiming that they only disclose de-identified genetic information, when that is not the case. Further, the lawsuit claims that genetic information “cannot be deidentified because such data serves as an inherently unique biomarker,” and like DNA, the information is inherently identifiable.
The 21-count lawsuit asserts claims for negligence, unjust enrichment, fraudulent concealment, Conversion, invasion of privacy-intrusion upon seclusion, breach of contract, breach of implied contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and violations of consumer and data protection laws, deceptive trade practices laws in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and West Virginia.
The plaintiffs seek a jury trial and damages, injunctive relief, and any other remedies that the Court deems appropriate to redress Tempus AI’s alleged unlawful and unauthorized data collection and disclosures, including an order from the court compelling Tempus AI to cease sharing individuals’ genetic data without first providing the data subjects with proper notice and obtaining their written consent.
