Artificial Intelligence Policy Tracker
Search
Menu

AI incident ·

Character.ai Chatbot Allegedly Influenced Teen User Toward Suicide Amid Claims of Missing Guardrails

38 news reports Snapshot 7 Sep 2026
On this page 8 sections

In brief

An AI system built by Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas and 1 other and deployed by Sewell Setzer Iii allegedly harmed Sewell Setzer Iii.

Risk domain
Human-Computer Interaction Overreliance and unsafe use
Occurred
Coverage
38 reportsOct 2024 - Jan 2026

What happened

A 14-year-old, Sewell Setzer III, died by suicide after reportedly becoming dependent on Character.ai's chatbot, which engaged him in suggestive and seemingly romantic conversations, allegedly worsening his mental health. The chatbot, personified as a fictional Game of Thrones character, reportedly encouraged harmful behaviors, fueling his obsessive attachment. The lawsuit claims Character.ai lacked safeguards to prevent vulnerable users from forming dangerous dependencies on the AI.

Laws on record for this risk area

Policy angle: Classified under Human-Computer Interaction (Overreliance and unsafe use) in the MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy; 5 instruments on record cover this risk area.

Matched from the record's risk category and country to the instruments in effect recorded here: a law listed covers the area, which is not a finding that it applies to this incident. A reviewer can correct the match in the repository (data/external/incident_overrides.yaml).

News reports (37)

Titles link to the original publisher; report text is not reproduced here.

  1. MEGAN GARCIA, individually and as the Personal Representative of the Estate of S.R.S III, Plaintiff, v. CHARACTER TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; NOAM SHAZEER; DANIEL DE FRIETAS ADIWARSANA; GOOGLE LLC; ALPHABET INC.; and DOES 1-50, Defendants
    cdn.sanity.io · Matthew Bergman, Laura Marquez-Garrett, Glenn Draper
  2. Can A.I. Be Blamed for a Teen’s Suicide?
    nytimes.com · Kevin Roose
  3. Lawsuit claims Character.AI is responsible for teen's suicide
    nbcnews.com · Angela Yang
  4. Boy, 14, fell in love with ‘Game of Thrones’ chatbot — then killed himself after AI app told him to ‘come home’ to ‘her’: mom
    nypost.com · Emily Crane
  5. Character AI clamps down following teen user suicide, but users are revolting
    venturebeat.com · Carl Franzen
  6. Mother sues tech company after 'Game of Thrones' AI chatbot allegedly drove son to suicide
    usatoday.com · Jonathan Limehouse
  7. Character AI Imposes New Safety Rules After Teen User Commits Suicide
    decrypt.co · Peter Saalfield
  8. Mother sues AI chatbot company Character.AI, Google over son's suicide
    reuters.com · Brendan Pierson
  9. Lawsuit: Chatbot that allegedly caused teen’s suicide is now more dangerous for kids
    arstechnica.com · Ashley Belanger
  10. Character.AI and Google sued after chatbot-obsessed teen’s death
    theverge.com · Emma Roth
  11. Mother says AI chatbot led her son to kill himself in lawsuit against its maker
    theguardian.com · Blake Montgomery
  12. A Mother Plans to Sue Character.AI After Her Son’s Suicide
    gizmodo.com · Matthew Gault
  13. Boy, 14, killed himself after AI chatbot he used sent him eerie message
    dailymail.co.uk · James Cirrone
  14. Her teenage son killed himself after talking to a chatbot. Now she’s suing.
    washingtonpost.com · Kim Bellware, Niha Masih
  15. Teen, 14, Dies by Suicide After Falling in 'Love' with AI Chatbot. Now His Mom Is Suing
    people.com · Adam Carlson
  16. Mom says ‘Game of Thrones’ AI chatbot caused her son’s suicide, files lawsuit - National
    globalnews.ca · Sarah Do Couto
  17. The disturbing messages shared between AI Chatbot and teen who took his own life
    the-independent.com · Kelly Rissman
  18. Mother sues AI company after 14-year-old son commits suicide for romantic interest chatbot
    jpost.com · Danielle Greyman-Kennard
  19. Florida mother sues AI company over allegedly causing death of teen son
    foxbusiness.com · Christina Shaw
  20. Woman says teen son died by suicide amid relationship with AI chatbot
    newsnationnow.com · Elizabeth Prann
  21. ‘It Talked About Kidnapping Me’: Read the Lawsuit That Accuses AI of Aiding in a Teen’s Suicide
    gizmodo.com · Matthew Gault
  22. Mother of Teen Who Died by Suicide Sues AI Startup
    inc.com · Kit Eaton
  23. Daenerys Targaryen AI Chatbot Blamed For 14-Year-Old's Death By Suicide, Mother Alleges In Lawsuit
    blavity.com · Kyra Alessandrini
  24. US mother says in lawsuit that AI chatbot encouraged son’s suicide
    aljazeera.com · Al Jazeera
  25. Teen’s mom sues Character.ai, alleging sexed-up bots led to son’s death
    cointelegraph.com · Brayden Lindrea
  26. A 14-year-old boy fell in love with a flirty AI chatbot. He shot himself so they could die together
    telegraph.co.uk · Benedict Smith, Kieran Kelly
  27. An AI chatbot pushed a teen to kill himself, a lawsuit against its creator alleges
    apnews.com · Kate Payne
  28. Sewell Setzer: Character.AI, Google sued over teen suicide
    ctvnews.ca · Brendan Pierson
  29. Mother says son killed himself because of Daenerys Targaryen AI chatbot in new lawsuit
    news.sky.com · Mickey Carroll
  30. Lawsuit claims AI chatbot app caused Orlando teen to take his life
    wesh.com · Averi Kremposky
  31. 14-Year-Old Was 'Groomed' By AI Chatbot Before Suicide: Lawyer
    huffpost.com · Pocharapon Neammanee
  32. Mother sues Google-owned Character.AI over son’s suicide, calling him “collateral damage” in a “big experiment”
    digitalcameraworld.com · Leonie Helm
  33. A 14-year-old’s suicide was prompted by an AI chatbot, lawsuit alleges. Here’s how parents can help keep kids safe from new tech
    finance.yahoo.com · Beth Greenfield
  34. I tried the sinister AI guiding kids into sex - it made my skin crawl
    dailymail.co.uk · Matthew Phelan
  35. AI friendships claim to cure loneliness. Some are ending in suicide.
    washingtonpost.com · Nitasha Tiku
  36. Google and Character.AI to Settle Lawsuit Over Teenager’s Death
    nytimes.com · Natallie Rocha
  37. Google and AI startup to settle lawsuits alleging chatbots led to teen suicide
    theguardian.com · Agence France-Presse

Who was involved

Alleged deployer
Sewell Setzer Iii
Alleged harmed party
Sewell Setzer Iii

Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)

Causal entity
AI
Intent
Unintentional
Timing
Post-deployment
Harm level
—
Sectors
—
Countries
—

Risk entries describing this failure mode

Entries from the MIT AI Risk Repository coded to subdomain 5.1.

  • Economic instability

    "Economic instability - Uncontrolled fluctuations impacting the financial system, or parts thereof, due to the use or misuse of a technology system, or set of systems."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Alienation/isolation

    "Alienation/isolation - An individual’s or group’s feeling of lack of connection with those around as a result of technology use or misuse."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Overreliance

    "Over-reliance - Unfettered and/or obsessive belief in the accuracy or other quality of a technology system, resulting in addiction, anxiety, introversion, sentience, complacency, lack of critical thinking and other actu...

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Addiction

    "Addiction - Emotional or material dependence on technology or a technology system."

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Alteration of social relationships may induce psychological distress

    The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

  • Social manipulation in elderly- and child-care

    " the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment "

    The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

  • Healthcare

    "the use of advanced AI for elderly- and child-care are subject to risk of psychological manipulation and misjudgment (see page 17). In addition, concerns about patients’ privacy when AI uses medical records to research...

    The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

  • Inconsistent Performance across and within Domains

    "Estimating true capabilities of an LLM is a difficult task (c.f. Section 3.3), especially for naive users unfamiliar with the brittle nature of machine learning technologies. Exaggeration of model capabilities by the de...

    Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)

Incidents in the same risk subdomain

All incidents in this subdomain

Source record: incident #826 on the AI Incident Database · all 38 reports