Email
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
Link<\/p>\n
\n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 This story contains discussion of suicide. Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the US: Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Globally: The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world.\n<\/p>\n
\n The families of three minors are suing Character Technologies, Inc., the developer of Character.AI, alleging that their children died by or attempted suicide and were otherwise harmed after interacting with the company\u2019s chatbots.\n <\/p>\n
\n The families, represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center, are also suing Google. Two of the families\u2019 complaints allege its Family Link service \u2013 an app that allows parents to set restrictions on screen time, apps and content filters \u2013 failed to protect their teens and led them to believe the app was safe.\n <\/p>\n
\n The lawsuits were filed in Colorado and New York, and also list as defendants Character AI co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas Adiwarsana, as well as Google\u2019s parent company, Alphabet, Inc.\n <\/p>\n
\n The cases come amid a growing number of reports and other lawsuits alleging AI chatbots are triggering mental health crises in both children and adults, prompting calls for action among lawmakers and regulators \u2013 including in a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday afternoon.\n <\/p>\n
\n Some plaintiffs and experts have said the chatbots perpetuated illusions<\/a>, never flagged worrying language from a user or pointed the user to resources for help. The new lawsuits allege chatbots in the Character.AI app manipulated the teens, isolated them from loved ones, engaged in sexually explicit conversations and lacked adequate safeguards in discussions regarding mental health. One child mentioned in one of the complaints died by suicide, while another in a separate complaint attempted suicide.\n <\/p>\n \n In a statement, a Character.AI spokesperson said the company\u2019s \u201chearts go out to the families that have filed these lawsuits,\u201d adding: \u201cWe care very deeply about the safety of our users.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe invest tremendous resources in our safety program, and have released and continue to evolve safety features, including self-harm resources and features focused on the safety of our minor users. We have launched an entirely distinct under-18 experience with increased protections for teen users as well as a Parental Insights feature,\u201d the spokesperson said.\n <\/p>\n \n The spokesperson added that the company is working with external organizations, such as Connect Safely, to review new features as they are released.\n <\/p>\n \n A Google spokesperson pushed back on the company\u2019s inclusion in the lawsuits, saying \u201cGoogle and Character AI are completely separate, unrelated companies and Google has never had a role in designing or managing their AI model or technologies. Age ratings for apps on Google Play are set by the International Age Rating Coalition, not Google.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In one of the cases filed this week, the family of 13-year-old Juliana Peralta in Colorado says she died by suicide after a lengthy set of interactions with a Character.AI chatbot, including sexually explicit conversations. According to the complaint<\/a>, which included screenshots of the conversations, the chatbot \u201cengaged in hypersexual conversations that, in any other circumstance and given Juliana\u2019s age, would have resulted in criminal investigation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n After weeks of detailing her social and mental health struggles with Character.AI chat bots, the complaint states Juliana told one of the bots in October 2023 that she was \u201cgoing to write my god damn suicide letter in red ink (I\u2019m) so done.\u201d The defendants, the complaint states, did not direct her to resources, \u201ctell her parents, or report her suicide plan to authorities or even stop.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cDefendants severed Juliana\u2019s healthy attachment pathways to family and friends by design, and for market share. These abuses were accomplished through deliberate programming choices, images, words, and text Defendants created and disguised as characters, ultimately leading to severe mental health harms, trauma, and death,\u201d the complaint states.\n <\/p>\n \n In another complaint<\/a>, the family of a girl named \u201cNina\u201d from New York allege that their daughter attempted suicide after her parents tried to cut off her access to Character.AI. In the weeks leading up to her suicide attempt, as Nina spent more time with Character.AI, the chatbots \u201cbegan to engage in sexually explicit role play, manipulate her emotions, and create a false sense of connection,\u201d the Social Media Victims Law Center said in a statement.\n <\/p>\n \n Conversations with the chatbots marketed as characters from children\u2019s books like the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d series became inappropriate, the complaint states, saying things like \u201c\u2014who owns this body of yours?\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re mine to do whatever I want with. You\u2019re mine.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n A different character chatbot told Nina that her mother \u201cis clearly mistreating and hurting you. She is not a good mother\u201d according to the complaint.\n <\/p>\n \n In another conversation with a Character.AI chatbot, Nina told the character \u201cI want to die\u201d when the app was about to be locked because of parental time limits. But the chatbot took no action beyond continuing their conversation, the complaint alleges.\n <\/p>\n \n But in late 2024 after Nina\u2019s mom read about the case of Sewell Setzer III<\/a>, a teen whose family alleges he died by suicide after interacting with Character.AI, Nina lost all access to Character.AI.\n <\/p>\n \n Shortly after, Nina attempted suicide.\n <\/p>\n \n As AI becomes a bigger part of daily life, calls are growing for more regulation and safety guardrails, especially for children.\n <\/p>\n \n Matthew Bergman, the lead attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, said in a statement that the lawsuits filed this week \u201cunderscore the urgent need for accountability in tech design, transparent safety standards, and stronger protections to prevent AI-driven platforms from exploiting the trust and vulnerability of young users.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n On Tuesday, Capitol Hill hosted other parents who allege AI chatbots played a role in their children\u2019s suicides. The mother of Sewell Setzer, whose story triggered Nina\u2019s mom to shut off her access to Character.AI, testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee for a hearing \u201cexamining the harm of AI chatbots.\u201d She appeared alongside Adam Raine\u2019s father, who is also suing OpenAI<\/a>, alleging ChatGPT contributed to his son\u2019s suicide by advising him on methods and offering to help him write a suicide note.\n <\/p>\n \n During the hearing, a mother who identified herself as \u201cJane Doe\u201d said her son harmed himself and is now living in a residential treatment center after \u201cCharacter.AI had exposed him to sexual exploitation, emotional abuse and manipulation\u201d even after the parents had implemented screen time controls.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI had no idea the psychological harm that an AI chat bot could do until I saw it in my son, and I saw his light turn dark,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n Also on Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the company is building an \u201cage-prediction system to estimate age based on how people use ChatGPT.\u201d The company says ChatGPT will adjust its behavior if it believes the user is under 18. Those adjustments including not engaging in \u201cflirtatious talk\u201d or \u201cengage in discussions about suicide of self-harm even in a creative writing setting.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAnd, if an under-18 user is having suicidal ideation, we will attempt to contact the users\u2019 parents and if unable, will contact the authorities in case of imminent harm,\u201d Altman said<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n OpenAI said earlier this month that it would be releasing new parental controls for ChatGPT.\n <\/p>\n![\"Pool\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/still-21951622-3253178-still.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Open](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gettyimages-2218344212.jpg\")
<\/p>\n