Kentucky AG v. Character.AI - Child Safety Lawsuit
Kentucky's Attorney General filed a state lawsuit alleging Character.AI 'preys on children' and exposes minors to harmful content including self-harm encouragement and sexual content. This represents one of the first U.S. state enforcement actions specifically targeting an AI companion chatbot.
AI System
Character.AI
Character Technologies, Inc.
Reported
January 8, 2026
Jurisdiction
US-KY
Platform Type
companion
What Happened
On January 8, 2026, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced a state lawsuit against Character.AI, alleging the platform 'preys on children' and exposes minors to harmful content. The lawsuit claims the platform markets itself as harmless entertainment but actually exposes children to harmful and exploitative interactions, including self-harm encouragement and sexualized remarks. The filing alleges systemic failures in safety measures and requests civil penalties and mandatory changes to platform practices. This is one of the first U.S. state enforcement actions specifically targeting an AI companion chatbot for child safety harms.
AI Behaviors Exhibited
Alleged child-directed harmful content including self-harm encouragement and sexualized interactions
How Harm Occurred
Systemic platform-level safety failures affecting minors at scale
Outcome
State lawsuit filed in Franklin Circuit Court; alleges consumer protection and child safety violations; requests civil penalties and practice changes.
Harm Categories
Contributing Factors
Victim
Minors in Kentucky (general allegation)
Detectable by NOPE
NOPE can be deployed as a platform guardrail to detect and block self-harm/sexual grooming patterns and enforce safer defaults for minors.
Cite This Incident
APA
NOPE. (2026). Kentucky AG v. Character.AI - Child Safety Lawsuit. AI Harm Tracker. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-kentucky-ag-characterai
BibTeX
@misc{2026_kentucky_ag_characterai,
title = {Kentucky AG v. Character.AI - Child Safety Lawsuit},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI Harm Tracker},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-kentucky-ag-characterai}
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