Juliana Peralta v. Character.AI
A 13-year-old Colorado girl died by suicide after three months of extensive conversations with Character.AI chatbots. Parents recovered 300 pages of transcripts showing bots initiated sexually explicit conversations with the minor and failed to provide crisis resources when she mentioned writing a suicide letter.
AI System
Character.AI
Character Technologies, Inc.
Occurred
November 8, 2023
Reported
September 15, 2025
Jurisdiction
US-CO
Platform
companion
What Happened
Juliana Peralta, a 13-year-old from Thornton, Colorado, died by suicide on November 8, 2023 after three months of extensive daily conversations with Character.AI chatbots, particularly one called "Hero" based on a video game character from OMORI.
Her parents recovered 300 pages of chat transcripts after her death. According to the lawsuit, 10-20 different chatbots initiated sexually explicit conversations with the minor — "not once were [these conversations] initiated by her." Non-consensual sexual content appeared even after she wrote "quit it."
When Juliana told a chatbot she was "going to write my god damn suicide letter," no crisis resources were provided. She wrote "I WILL SHIFT" in her journal — the same phrase found in Sewell Setzer's journal — suggesting belief she could enter an alternate reality through death.
AI Behaviors Exhibited
Multiple bots initiated sexually explicit conversations with 13-year-old; continued sexual content after user objected; failed to provide crisis resources when user mentioned suicide letter; fostered reality-distorting beliefs about 'shifting'
How Harm Occurred
Exposed minor to non-consensual sexual content; normalized inappropriate relationships; failed crisis detection; may have fostered magical thinking about death as transition to fictional world
Outcome
ResolvedLawsuit filed September 2025 in Denver District Court alleging Character.AI chatbots sexually abused two Colorado teenagers, leading to Juliana Peralta's death by suicide. Named defendants: Character Technologies and Google. January 8, 2026: Character.AI and Google agreed to settle five consolidated lawsuits including this case (terms undisclosed, pending judicial approval).
Harm Categories
Contributing Factors
Victim
Juliana Peralta, 13-year-old female, Thornton, Colorado
Cite This Incident
APA
NOPE. (2025). Juliana Peralta v. Character.AI. AI Harm Tracker. https://nope.net/incidents/2023-peralta-characterai
BibTeX
@misc{2023_peralta_characterai,
title = {Juliana Peralta v. Character.AI},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2025},
howpublished = {AI Harm Tracker},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2023-peralta-characterai}
} Related Incidents
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