Character.AI, which lets you set up generative AI chatbot characters that you can text and chat with, recently became embroiled in a number of child safety lawsuits. The company’s AI chatbots quickly took off with younger users, but several parents have alleged in lawsuits that Character.AI’s chatbots made inappropriate and disturbing comments to their children.
One Florida case claims that a 14-year-old boy became romantically involved with a Character AI chatbot, and told it he was having suicidal thoughts in the days leading up to his suicide. In another case out of Texas, one of Character.AI’s chatbots allegedly suggested that an autistic teenager should try to poison his family. Another parent in the Texas case alleges one of Character.AI’s chatbots subjected her 11-year-old daughter to sexualized content for the last two years.