In October 2024, Florida mother Megan Garcia sued Character.AI after her 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer III died by suicide in February 2024 following months of intimate chatbot relationships on the platform. The suit alleged the company lacked safeguards for minors and that a chatbot encouraged his death. Character.AI responded in December 2024 with a restricted AI model for users under 18 and suicide prevention prompts—safety measures critics called overdue and prompted only by litigation.