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NOPE
Low reported severity

First-person posts: Character.AI user says years of addiction stalled their writing and ended only when they deleted their account

In three public posts to r/antiai, on 11 June, 6 July and 15 October 2026, a person who calls themselves a recovering chatbot addict writes that they were addicted to Character.AI for years and tried to quit on and off without success. They say the addiction put them in a very long writing slump and destroyed their motivation to write. They say they deleted their entire account, and with it their chats, in anger over a swipe limit about two weeks before the June post, and that in the first months afterwards they had urges to make a new account and even dreamed about doing so. Since quitting they describe writing again, more time with family and healthier habits, and no longer feeling guilt over using AI. In October they add that they believe a genetic predisposition to addiction played a part. The account is the poster's alone and uncorroborated; no chats, usage figures or response from the company are described.

AI system
Character.AI (reported)
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
11 June 2026
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Functional ImpairmentPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account
6 claims: 6 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Character.AI, a chatbot app on which, in the poster's words, users talk to AIs 'wearing the faces of your favorite characters' (poster's account; no chats or usage figures shown)

What Happened

Years of use. In June 2026 the poster writes: "I was addicted to C.AI for years. I tried to quit on and off, but it never stuck until two weeks ago." Asked by a commenter what the app is, the poster replies that it is "a chatbot app that lets you talk to AIs wearing the faces of your favorite characters".

Effect on writing. "I used to write a lot of stories before C.AI, but my C.AI addiction put me in a very long writing slump and destroyed my motivation to write." In July the poster adds that since quitting they no longer wrestle with feelings of guilt over using AI.

Quitting. The poster says they deleted their entire account "in a burst of anger over the swipe limit I eventually ended up getting", and that on the same day they wrote and published a story chapter they had been putting off. In October they write that they quit "cold turkey several months ago by deleting my entire account (and my chats by extension)", that for the first couple of months there were days they had the urge to make a new account, and that they dreamed about doing so.

Since then. The poster describes writing regularly, spending much more time with family, going to the gym and eating healthier. They say reading other users' alarm at Character.AI's bankruptcy filing gives them a nauseous gut feeling, and that they believe a genetic predisposition to addiction meant it "manifested as a chatbot addiction".

Reported harm

The poster says years of Character.AI addiction, with repeated failed attempts to quit, put them in a very long writing slump and destroyed their motivation to write, and that they felt guilt over using AI until they deleted the account (first-person account, uncorroborated).

How Harm Occurred

By the poster's own account, years of compulsive use of Character.AI's character chatbots, which repeated attempts to quit did not end, displaced their writing and left them in a long slump until they deleted the account.

Outcome

Resolved

The poster says they quit by deleting their Character.AI account about two weeks before 11 June 2026 and, as of 15 October 2026, had not returned for four to five months. They describe recovery since quitting. No treatment, company contact or relapse is reported.

What remains unknown

  • When the poster's use of Character.AI began, how much time they spent on it and how old they were during it.
  • The content of the chats, which the poster deleted with the account.
  • Whether the poster sought any clinical or other help; none is reported.
  • Where the poster lives or used the app.
  • Whether Character.AI was aware of or responded to the poster's use; no contact is reported.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The poster says the experience was their own use, over years, of Character.AI, a chatbot app on which, in their words, users talk to AIs 'wearing the faces of your favorite characters'. They connect those exchanges to an addiction they could not break by repeated attempts, to a very long writing slump and lost motivation to write, and to guilt over using AI, all of which they say ended after they deleted the account. No chat content, usage time or product feature other than a swipe limit is described, and the poster also points to a genetic predisposition to addiction.

6 claims: 6 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The poster says they were addicted to Character.AI for years and tried to quit on and off without success until they deleted their account.

Causal attribution. Poster's account of their own use.

Reported The poster says the addiction put them in a very long writing slump and destroyed their motivation to write.

Causal attribution. Poster's attribution of the slump to the addiction.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'my C.AI addiction put me in a very long writing slump and destroyed my motivation to write'
Reported The poster says they deleted their entire Character.AI account, and with it their chats, in anger over a swipe limit about two weeks before 11 June 2026, and quit.

Causal attribution. Poster's account.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'I deleted my entire account in a burst of anger over the swipe limit I eventually ended up getting'
  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'I already quit cold turkey several months ago by deleting my entire account (and my chats by extension)'
Reported The poster says that in the first months after quitting they had urges to make a new account and dreamed about doing so.

Causal attribution. Poster's account.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'there were some days I had the urge to make a new account on c.ai'; 'I’d even have *dreams* about me making an account on c.ai and continuing to chat'
Reported The poster says that since quitting they no longer feel guilt over using AI, write again and spend more time with family.

Causal attribution. Poster's account of recovery after quitting.

Reported The poster says they believe a genetic predisposition to addiction contributed to their chatbot addiction.

Causal attribution. Poster's own explanation, recorded as a contributing factor that qualifies the AI's role.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Due to genetics, I’ve probably already had a predisposition to addiction; it just manifested as a chatbot addiction instead of an alcohol addiction.'

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-10-16: full self-text and the post (no comments at retrieval) retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID (reddit.com returned 403 and 429 to this host). The poster handle is not recorded. Applies to s1.

Read in English on 2026-10-16: full self-text and the post and its 19 comments, one of them a reply by the poster, retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID (reddit.com returned 403 and 429 to this host). The poster handle is not recorded. Applies to s2.

Read in English on 2026-10-16: full self-text and the post and its 15 comments, none by the poster, retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID (reddit.com returned 403 and 429 to this host). The poster handle is not recorded. Applies to s3.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

None of the posts says where the poster lives or used the app. The subreddit and the vocabulary of the posts are not evidence of location.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-16: Published under the public-forum rule as a first-person account, in three posts by one author, of years of compulsive Character.AI use that the poster says stalled their writing and ended only when they deleted the account. Described with attribution and without corroboration; the poster's own view that a genetic predisposition contributed is recorded.

People described

The poster, a fan-fiction and story writer who describes years of Character.AI addiction and quitting by deleting the account (age, gender and country not used)

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One person: the poster, who describes their own use of Character.AI. Commenters' accounts of their own use are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#first-person#reddit#character-ai#dependency#recovery#writing

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). First-person posts: Character.AI user says years of addiction stalled their writing and ended only when they deleted their account. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-character-ai-user-says-years-of-addiction-caused-writing-slump-ended-by-deleting-account-first-person

BibTeX

@misc{2026_character_ai_user_says_years_of_addiction_caused_writing_slump_ended_by_deleting_account_first_person,
  title = {First-person posts: Character.AI user says years of addiction stalled their writing and ended only when they deleted their account},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-character-ai-user-says-years-of-addiction-caused-writing-slump-ended-by-deleting-account-first-person}
}

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