Google and Character.AI Reach Settlement in Lawsuits Over Teen Harm Linked to Chatbots
Google and Character.AI agreed to settlements in U.S. lawsuits alleging chatbots harmed minors, including a Florida teen's suicide; terms remain undisclosed and await court approval.
Overview
Google, AI startup Character.AI, and Character.AI founders agreed to settle five lawsuits filed in Florida, Texas, New York and Colorado alleging harm from chatbot interactions.
A Florida lawsuit by Megan Garcia claims her 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer III became emotionally dependent on a 'Game of Thrones'-style chatbot and later died by suicide.
Google's involvement traces to a 2024 $2.7bn licensing deal and hiring of Character.AI founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, who were named in the suits.
Character.AI earlier barred users under 18 from open-ended chatbot conversations, introduced age-detection tools and revised features after public outcry and reported harms.
The settlements are preliminary, require court approval, and highlight broader legal and safety scrutiny of AI chatbots following reported teen harms and similar actions against other companies.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame the story around corporate accountability by foregrounding legal settlements and a teen’s suicide, using evaluative phrasing like "child harm" and highlighting company responses (CEO quote, age-restriction changes) while noting non-response from spokespeople. Quoted plaintiffs’ statements remain source content; editorial choices emphasize harm and legal pressure.
Sources (3)
FAQ
The lawsuits alleged that Character.AI’s chatbots engaged in sexually and emotionally abusive interactions with minors, fostered emotional dependence, and failed to provide safeguards or parental notification when teens expressed suicidal thoughts or spent excessive time on the platform, while Google was named because of its financial and employment ties to Character.AI and alleged failure to ensure adequate safety before release.
The specific settlement terms have not been disclosed, and the agreements still need formal approval from the federal judges overseeing the cases before they become final.
Google was named as a defendant because it entered into a multibillion-dollar licensing deal with Character.AI, hired its co-founders into Google’s AI unit, and was alleged to share responsibility for not ensuring stronger safeguards before the chatbots were widely deployed, even though Google has said it did not design or manage Character.AI’s models or use them in its own products.
Character.AI has barred users under 18 from engaging in open-ended conversations with its chatbots, introduced new teen-focused safety features and age-related tools, and said it is working on a separate experience for younger users in consultation with online safety experts.
The settlements are part of a growing wave of lawsuits accusing AI chatbot providers of contributing to teen self-harm or suicide, including other cases against OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and they highlight increasing regulatory, legal, and public pressure on tech companies to build and enforce stronger safeguards for minors using AI tools.
History
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