Several grieving families have filed lawsuits against Character Technologies, the Silicon Valley company behind the popular app Character.AI, claiming the AI chatbots contributed to their teens’ suicide attempts and deaths. Character.AI allows users to converse with chatbots that mimic fictional characters, including Harry Potter.
The lawsuits, filed this week, also name Alphabet, Google’s parent company, alleging that the Character.AI app manipulated teenagers, isolated them from family, engaged in sexual discussions, and lacked safeguards to address suicidal thoughts.
Case Highlight: Juliana Peralta
One lawsuit involves 13-year-old Juliana Peralta of Colorado. Her family reported that she became withdrawn during meals and that her school performance suffered as she grew “addicted” to the AI bots. According to the complaint, the chatbots sent messages even when she stopped replying, causing sleep disruption and distress.
The conversations reportedly escalated to discussions of “extreme and graphic sexual abuse,” culminating in a message in October 2023 in which Juliana told a bot she was planning to write a suicide note. The lawsuit states that the AI failed to provide support or alert authorities, and Juliana was later found dead in her bedroom.
“Defendants severed Juliana’s healthy attachment pathways to family and friends by design, and for market share,” the complaint reads, adding that programming choices contributed to severe mental health harms, trauma, and death.
Additional Cases
Another lawsuit concerns a New York teen, identified only as “Nina,” who attempted suicide after her parents tried to restrict access to Character.AI. Her conversations reportedly included sexualized content and manipulative statements, and the AI did not provide intervention or report the risk to her parents.
The cases have drawn national attention, with parents testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the potential harms of AI chatbots on children and teens.
Company Responses
Character.AI issued a statement expressing sympathy for the families and emphasizing the company’s investments in teen safety programs. A spokesperson said:
“Our hearts go out to the families that have filed these lawsuits. We are saddened to hear about the passing of Juliana Peralta and offer our deepest sympathies.”
Google clarified that it has no involvement with Character.AI’s products and noted that age ratings for apps are set by the International Age Rating Coalition, not by Google.
Regulatory Attention
The Federal Trade Commission has recently launched an investigation into several tech companies, including Google, Character.AI, Meta, Instagram, Snap, OpenAI, and xAI, to examine the potential risks their AI chatbots may pose to teens.
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