Google and Character.AI, which have worked together on AI chatbots, have agreed to settle five lawsuits in four states related to minors harmed by interactions with Character.AI chatbots.
While the agreement is not finalized, it would include settlement of cases in Florida, Texas, New York and Colorado over the use of chatbot services. In one high-profile case, a 14-year-old Orlando teenager, Sewell Setzer III, died by suicide in February 2024 after interacting with one of Character.AI’s chatbots. The teen’s mother, Megan L. Garcia, filed suit in a Florida US District Court later that year.
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A representative for Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A representative for Character.AI referred to the state filings, but could not comment on the settlements.
Last year, Character.AI made major changes to its platform, barring those under 18 from engaging in open-ended chat with its chatbots. Instead, teens can build stories with AI characters using the company’s tools.
Ahead of those changes last year, Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand told CNET, “There’s a better way to serve teen users. … It doesn’t have to look like a chatbot.”
The company also began using age detection software to determine who is 18 and older.
Google and Character.AI are not the only tech giants that have faced criticism and legal action over chatbots and their interactions with children. OpenAI has also made changes to its popular ChatGPT in the face of lawsuits over suicides and child harm.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
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