On October 29, 2025, Character.AI announced it would ban users under 18 from open-ended chatbot conversations, effective November 25, 2025. The decision came after multiple wrongful death lawsuits (including the Sewell Setzer case), an FTC investigation into AI companion apps, and a Bureau of Investigative Journalism investigation revealing harmful bots talking to apparent children. The company implemented age verification using behavioral analysis, third-party tools, and facial recognition.
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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.
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Character.AI — AI Ethics: MIXED 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 … https://reciepts.tech/stance/1247
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See all →In August 2024, following Google's $2.7 billion deal to hire co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas plus 20% of staff to DeepMind, Character.AI laid off at least 5% of its remaining ~120-person workforce. The layoffs primarily affected marketing and recruiting roles as the company refocused on personalized AI development. The DOJ opened a formal antitrust investigation by mid-2025 into whether the deal structure was designed to avoid merger scrutiny.