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Overview

Character.AI Teen Suicide Lawsuit refers to a controversy and lawsuit against the user-generated artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot website Character.AI by the mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy (Sewell Setzer III) who alleges he became obsessed with a chatbot version of the Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen before his death. The lawsuit revealed by The New York Times in mid-October 2024 suggests Setzer took out his phone and texted the AI chatbot on the day he committed suicide. The controversy became a viral topic on the internet, spawning several critics of the unregulated usage of AI tools by minors.

Background

On October 23rd, 2024, The New York Times^[1] posted an article titled "Can A.I. Be Blamed for a Teen’s Suicide?" revealing an ongoing lawsuit against the Character.AI chatbot by Megan Garcia, mother of the 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III, accusing the company of blame and that the teen was deceived and manipulated by a chatbot, causing him to take his own life in early February 2024.

The article details that the teen spent months talking to chatbots on Character.AI and that, on the last day of his life, Sewell took out his phone and texted a chatbot named after Daenerys Targaryen, a character from Game of Thrones, writing that he missed and loved her.

Developments

Character.AI's Response

A few hours after The New York Times article was posted on October 23rd, 2024, Character.AI^[2] uploaded a statement on the company's blog and website, writing that it "takes the safety of our users very seriously and we are always looking for ways to evolve and improve our platform. Today, we want to update you on the safety measures we’ve implemented over the past six months and additional ones to come, including new guardrails for users under the age of 18."

The chatbot website also tweeted about the lawsuit on X / Twitter that day, writing it is "heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepest condolences to the family." The post (seen below) received more than 1,100 likes and 970 reposts in a few hours

c.ai Character.Al @character_ai. Follow X We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously and we are continuing to add new safety features that you can read about here:... Show more 7:48 AM - Oct 23, 2024

Online Reactions

Character.AI users noticed the company deleted all chatbots related to Game of Thrones characters, especially Targaryens, a day before the lawsuit was published. For instance, on October 22nd, 2024, X^[3] user @osferthsnoopy shared screenshots of the AI tool showing blank search results for "all the Targaryen bots." The tweet (seen below) amassed more than 410 likes and 30 reposts in a day.

atlas X @osferthsnoopy. Follow character ai took down ALL of the targaryen bots?? oh my god 7:43 ■ill 5G+ Characters Creators Voices helaena targaryen Characters Creators Voices 8:58 PM Oct 22, 2024 Characters Creators Voices

Netizens also reacted to the contents of the lawsuit, sparking a debate around AI tools being used by minors. For example, on October 23rd, 2024, X^[4] user @akhileshutup replied to Character.AI's official statement on X, writing that their "product convinced a teen to suicide and the company has accepted this." The post (seen below) received roughly 20 likes and five reposts in a few hours.

X Akhilesh @akhileshutup. Follow Let's get this straight. Character Al's product convinced a teen to suicide and the company has accepted this. Doomed fr, guys. c.ai Character.Al @character_ai We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously and we are continuing to add new safety features that you can read about here:.... 8:17 AM Oct 23, 2024

Search Interest

External References

^[1] The New York Times – Can A.I. Be Blamed for a Teen’s Suicide?

^[2] Character.AI – Community Safety Updates

^[3] X – osferthsnoopy

^[4] X – akhileshutup

Recent Images 12 total

A□ OOLO @aol_ig. Follow it's weird how this show has proven itself to be correct 100x over BLACK MIRROR c.ai Character.Al @character_ai We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously and we are continuing to add new safety features that you can read about here:... X

u/Fricktok User Character Creator ⚫ 5 hr. ago I gonna miss them. Memes NO. NO, STAY WITH ME! the old site Targaryen bot DON'T LEAVE ME!!

Reika Today at 8:23 PM Hi character.ai people! What you did today was extremely unethical to your userbase. You pulled the rug from under us and completely removed an entire franchise without so much as a community post about it. Allowing us the grace of exporting our chats would have been the bare minimum act of kindness to the people who have stuck around, regardless of the many platform destroying updates. I've personally been a c.ai+ subscriber since it was announced, and today I've been forced to stop because I can no longer trust your platform. This was so unprofessional, and there's simply no excuse for it. Thank you for removing a years worth of roleplaying and not even acknowledging what was done. !! 7 700 4

Changes to our models for minors (under the age of 18) that are designed to reduce the likelihood of encountering sensitive or suggestive content. Improved detection, response, and intervention related to user inputs that violate our Terms or Community Guidelines. A revised disclaimer on every chat to remind users that the Al is not a real person. • Notification when a user has spent an hour-long session on the platform with additional user flexibility in progress.

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Character.AI Teen Suicide Lawsuit