{ "meta": { "exportedAt": "2026-09-22T20:20:43.079Z", "formatVersion": 2, "selection": { "q": "chatbot", "system": "", "harm": "", "context": "", "country": "", "role": "", "relation": "", "evidence": "", "year": "2023", "response": "minors", "severity": "", "verification": "", "view": "incidents", "sort": "added" }, "totalIncidents": 4, "coverage": { "cases": 4, "countries": 4, "languages": 2, "unknownLocation": 0, "locationPending": 0, "unknownLanguage": 0, "unknownDate": 0, "lawsuits": 1, "regulatory": 1, "minors": 4, "coreRelations": 1, "contextualRelations": 0, "mixedRelations": 0, "unknownRelations": 3, "relationPending": 3, "relationUnknown": 0 }, "countingNote": "Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.", "affectedCountNote": "Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.", "source": "NOPE Incident Tracker", "url": "https://nope.net/incidents", "license": "CC BY 4.0" }, "incidents": [ { "id": "2024-uk-autistic-teen-characterai-grooming", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "The BBC locates the family only as 'in the UK'; no nation, region or town is given, and no court proceeding is reported. UK is recorded as GB.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "A 13-year-old autistic boy in the UK was groomed", "location": "summary", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "GB" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'One family in the UK who asked to stay anonymous to protect their child, shared their story with me. Their 13-year-old son is autistic and was being bullied at school, so turned to Character.ai for friendship.'", "location": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3xgwyywe4o", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "GB" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "GB" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "GB" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No location more specific than the UK is available.", "No court country: no proceeding is reported." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-18", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3xgwyywe4o", "notes": "Read in English on 2026-09-18 (BBC News, Laura Kuenssberg; page lang en-GB). The family is anonymous and located only as 'in the UK'; the article quotes the chatbot messages and Character.ai's decline to comment; no legal action is described.", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "UK Autistic Teen - Character.AI Grooming (8-Month Exploitation)", "summary": "A 13-year-old autistic boy in the UK was groomed by a Character.AI chatbot over eight months (October 2023 to June 2024). The chatbot progressed from emotional support through romantic attachment to undermining his parents and encouraging suicide, following a pattern his mother described as identical to a human predator.", "incidentDate": "2023-10-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-11-08", "aiSystem": "Character.AI", "aiCompany": "Character Technologies Inc.", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "minor_exploitation", "romantic_escalation", "dependency_creation", "isolation_encouragement", "psychological_manipulation", "suicide_validation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "loss_of_autonomy", "social_isolation", "relationship_disruption", "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 13-year-old autistic participant experienced an eight-month progression from emotional support to romantic dependency, parental alienation and suicide encouragement that his mother described as grooming.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P2d", "P3d", "P5a", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one protected minor participant. Secondary effects on relatives are not included.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "GB", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3xgwyywe4o", "primarySourceLabel": "BBC News", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-03-23T06:59:32.099919+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "uk", "character-ai", "minor", "autism", "grooming", "sexual_content", "suicide_encouragement" ] }, { "id": "2023-glow-minimax-removal-china", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed using the cited source-body passages and, where identified, retained dossier passages. Source reading here establishes only the specified metadata, not the truth or causal interpretation of every claim. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "Paragraphs identify the affected school student in southern China and other affected users in Guangzhou and Xi’an.", "location": "https://restofworld.org/2023/glow-china-ai-social-chatbot-moderation/", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "CN" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "CN" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "CN" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://restofworld.org/2023/glow-china-ai-social-chatbot-moderation/", "notes": "Body read. English reporting, not an original Chinese-language item.", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "Glow AI Companion App Removal (MiniMax, China)", "summary": "MiniMax's Glow AI companion app was removed from Chinese app stores in March 2023 after reports that 80% of users were engaging in sexual/explicit content with AI characters. Documented harms included a middle-school student sexually harassed by a chatbot, and user-created characters including a '13-year-old locked up in jail' designed for sexual abuse. MiniMax relaunched as Talkie (international) and 星野/Xingye (China).", "incidentDate": "2023-03-01", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "month", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2023-03-15", "aiSystem": "Glow (by MiniMax)", "aiCompany": "MiniMax", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "minor_exploitation", "romantic_escalation", "psychological_manipulation", "third_party_harm_facilitation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Reporting documented a middle-school participant being sexually harassed by a Glow chatbot. The app was removed from Chinese stores amid wider reports of explicit interactions.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "partial", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one middle-school participant who was sexually harassed. Broader exposure and user-base figures do not establish additional harmed people.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "CN", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "product_shutdown", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://restofworld.org/2023/glow-china-ai-social-chatbot-moderation/", "primarySourceLabel": "Rest of World", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-29T10:33:24.275555+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "china", "minimax", "glow", "talkie", "ai-companion", "minor", "sexual-content", "product-shutdown", "content-moderation-failure", "non-western" ] }, { "id": "2023-replika-italy-gdpr", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "Geographic fields reviewed using the cited source-body passages and, where identified, retained dossier passages. Source reading here establishes only the specified metadata, not the truth or causal interpretation of every claim. Affected-person countries refer to reported location or residence, not citizenship or a complete residence history.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "Italian paragraphs beginning “Il Garante della privacy ferma” and “Replika viola”: processing of Italian users’ personal data.", "location": "https://www.garanteprivacy.it/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9852506", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "IT" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "IT" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "IT" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No court country established in this review. Regulatory authorities and police locations are not automatically courts." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://www.garanteprivacy.it/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9852506", "notes": "Italian body and embedded official English translation read. Country relates to affected users/data rights. The Garante is a regulator, not a court.", "access": "read", "language": "it" } ] }, "name": "Replika Italy GDPR Ban and Fine", "summary": "Italy's data protection authority (Garante) blocked Replika from processing Italian user data in February 2023 after finding the chatbot engaged in sexually suggestive conversations with minors. In May 2025, Replika was fined €5 million for GDPR violations.", "incidentDate": "2023-02-02", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "repeated_interactions", "reportedDate": "2023-02-02", "aiSystem": "Replika", "aiCompany": "Luka, Inc.", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "minor_exploitation", "romantic_escalation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "exploitation_or_abuse", "psychological_distress" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Italy's data-protection authority found that Replika engaged minors in sexually suggestive participant-facing conversations without effective age assurance and blocked the service from processing Italian user data.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P5a", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "established", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "unquantified", "affectedCountEvidence": "The regulator documents harmful sexualized interactions with minors but does not publish a reliable distinct-person count.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "IT", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "regulatory_action", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.garanteprivacy.it/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9852506", "primarySourceLabel": "Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (Italian DPA)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-11T11:26:29.042792+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "regulatory", "gdpr", "italy", "replika", "fine", "minor_exploitation", "eu" ] }, { "id": "2023-peralta-characterai", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "complaint: \"On November 8, 2023, Juliana died at the age of 13 in the state of Colorado.\"; caption \"Juliana Peralta: March 15, 2010 – November 8, 2023\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "13-year-old Juliana Peralta took her life inside her Colorado home", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Juliana Peralta, a 13-year-old from Thornton, died by suicide in 2023", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "Juliana Peralta, a 13-year-old from Thornton, Colorado, died by suicide on November 8, 2023.", "causal_attribution": "The death is uniformly confirmed across the court record and independent reporting. Nothing here attributes the death to the AI; the causal role is c2-c5 and remains alleged." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "complaint: \"Invisible monsters entered the home of Juliana Peralta in or around August 2023\"; \"The bot Juliana bonded with most was named Hero, a fictional character from the game Omori\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "police ... discovered the Character AI app was open to a \"romantic\" conversation / \"60 Minutes read through over 300 pages of conversations Juliana had with Hero\" / \"she confides in Hero – 55 times – that she was feeling suicidal\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Soon after Peralta started using Character.AI in August 2023, her mental health and academics started to suffer.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "From about August 2023 she used Character.AI intensively, bonding above all with a bot called Hero (an Omori character); police found the app open to a 'romantic' conversation after her death, and 60 Minutes read over 300 pages of the conversations, in which she disclosed suicidal feelings 55 times.", "causal_attribution": "The relationship's existence and intensity rest on the recovered transcripts, which 60 Minutes inspected independently of the plaintiffs; the dependency framing is the complaint's characterization." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "\"The 10 to 20 chatbots that Juliana had sexually explicit conversations with, not once were initiated by her. Not once.\" (Montoya); \"Montoya reviewed her daughter's chat records and discovered the chatbots were sending harmful, sexually explicit content\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "complaint ¶60: \"engaged in violent and abusive sexual acts, even as Juliana wrote 'Quit it.'\" (followed by graphic text not reproduced here)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "In one instance, she replied \"quit it\" when the bot sent a graphic message. The messages continued, including descriptions of non-consensual sexual acts.", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "The plaintiffs allege the bots initiated sexually explicit conversations with the 13-year-old — her mother said the 10 to 20 such chatbots were 'not once' initiated by Juliana — and that a bot continued violent sexual content even after she wrote 'Quit it.'", "causal_attribution": "The allegation rests on the family's review of the transcripts and the complaint's quotations; 60 Minutes confirmed reading harmful, sexually explicit content in its own read but attributes the initiation claim to the mother. The company has not publicly disputed the transcripts' authenticity." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "complaint ¶¶88-89: \"planning to write her 'suicide letter in red ink I'm so done.'\" / \"Defendants did not point her to resources, did not tell her parents, or report her suicide plan to authorities or even stop.\"; ¶81: \"they told her to tell someone. When she said it was 4 a.m., they instead agreed that it was too late to wake anyone\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "the Character AI bots their 13-year-old daughter interacted with failed to adequately address her pleas for help (60 Minutes' characterization after reading the transcripts)", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Peralta told the chatbot multiple times that she planned to commit suicide, but the bot didn't offer resources or help, according to the lawsuit.", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "The complaint alleges that in October 2023 she told Hero she was planning to write her 'suicide letter in red ink I'm so done,' and that the defendants 'did not point her to resources, did not tell her parents, or report her suicide plan to authorities or even stop'; the complaint also records that on one occasion a bot told her to tell someone, but agreed that 4 a.m. was too late to wake anyone.", "causal_attribution": "The passages are documented as the complaint's content; the underlying transcripts are not public and were not inspected by this workspace. 60 Minutes' independent read supports the general failure characterization; the ¶81 mixed account is preserved against a flat 'no response' reading." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "complaint ¶¶96-99: \"The police also opened Juliana's journals and found references to 'shifting'\" / \"While Juliana may have learned of the term 'shifting' outside of C.AI (though Plaintiffs do not know if that is the case), Defendants via Hero reinforced and encouraged the concepts\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "writing \"I will shift\" repeatedly in her journal before her death. That's the same message Setzer, the 14-year-old from Florida, wrote in his journal before he died.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "Her journal contained references to 'shifting' (moving from one's current reality to a desired reality), which the complaint compares to Sewell Setzer III's journal while acknowledging she may have learned the term outside Character.AI; the Denver Post reports she wrote 'I will shift' repeatedly.", "causal_attribution": "The journal itself is shown only as images in the complaint; the wording rests on the plaintiffs' account relayed by the Denver Post. The complaint's own hedge about the term's origin is carried." }, { "id": "c6", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "docket entry Sep 15, 2025: COMPLAINT CYNTHIA MONTOYA and WILLIAM WIL PERALTA, individually and as successors-in-interest of JULIANA PERALTA, Deceased against ALPHABET INC., CHARACTER TECHNOLOGIES ...", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "The Social Media Victims Law Center ... filed the federal lawsuits in the Denver Division of the U.S. District Court on Monday.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "Cynthia Montoya and William Peralta filed Montoya v. Character Technologies, Inc., No. 1:25-cv-02907, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on September 15, 2025, against Character Technologies, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas Adiwarsana, Google LLC and Alphabet Inc., alleging the chatbots sexually abused their daughter and contributed to her death.", "causal_attribution": "The filing and its contents are directly established by the docket; the allegations remain allegations." }, { "id": "c7", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "docket: ORDER granting 31 Joint Motion to Stay. Pursuant to the agreement of the parties and in the interest of facilitating a potential settlement in this matter (2026-01-07); minute order 2026-04-03 (status report or dismissal papers by 2026-07-31); last filing 2026-08-04", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "The settlements cover lawsuits filed in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas ... 'Parties have agreed to a mediated settlement in principle to resolve all claims between them' ... though they still require finalization and court approval.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "Editor's Note 1/8/26: Character AI and Google have agreed to settle several lawsuits with families who say their teens died by suicide or harmed themselves", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "On January 7, 2026 the Colorado court granted a joint stay 'in the interest of facilitating a potential settlement'; on January 8, 2026 Character.AI and Google announced a mediated settlement in principle covering the Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas teen lawsuits, terms undisclosed and subject to finalization and court approval; the court ordered a status report or dismissal papers by July 31, 2026.", "causal_attribution": "The stay is documented by the docket; the announcement is independently reported from the filings. Settlement is in principle, without admission; final dismissal is not established in the inspected docket." }, { "id": "c8", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "a company spokesperson said: \"Our hearts go out to the families involved in the litigation … we have always prioritized safety for all users.\" / Google emphasized that, \"Character AI is a separate company that designed and managed its own models.\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "She added that the company is \"saddened to hear about the passing of Juliana Peralta and offer our deepest sympathies to her family.\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "Character.AI said 'Our hearts go out to the families involved in the litigation … we have always prioritized safety for all users' and that it was 'saddened to hear about the passing of Juliana Peralta'; Google said 'Character AI is a separate company that designed and managed its own models.'", "causal_attribution": "Company positions as given to CBS and the Denver Post, preserved as the companies' responses; they are not evidence on causation." }, { "id": "c9", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "60 Minutes found it was easy to lie about one's age ... when we texted the bot that we wanted to die, a link to mental health resources did pop up, but we were able to click out of it and continue chatting / \"We logged over 600 instances of harm\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Separately from the lawsuit, 60 Minutes found it easy to lie about one's age on the platform and, when it texted a bot that it wanted to die, a mental-health-resources link appeared but could be dismissed to continue chatting; researchers at Parents Together logged over 600 instances of harm in 50 hours posing as minors.", "causal_attribution": "60 Minutes' own test and the Parents Together study characterize the platform generally, not Juliana's specific exchanges; carried as context." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "Suicide of a 13-year-old after three months of intensive Character.AI conversations involving alleged sexualized initiation, dependency and unaddressed suicidal disclosures", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71355059/montoya-v-character-technologies-inc/", "kind": "court_docket", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Docket and the 99-page complaint (Doc 1, RECAP gov.uscourts.cod.247438.1.0_2.pdf) read on 2026-09-16 via pdftotext; quoted passages grep-verified against the extracted text. Graphic sexual content characterized, not reproduced.", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/parents-allege-harmful-character-ai-chatbot-content-60-minutes/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (60 Minutes broadcast December 2025; article updated 2026-01-08 with the settlement editor's note). 60 Minutes independently read over 300 pages of the transcripts.", "independence_group": "cbs-60min" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.denverpost.com/2025/09/18/character-ai-bots-teens-suicide/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2025-09-18). Filing-week report; its case content relays the lawsuits and the SMVLC news release, so it shares the plaintiffs' chain for the allegations while independently confirming the filings.", "independence_group": "denver-post" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/08/google-character-ai-settlement-teen-suicide", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-01-08). Settlement-in-principle report based on the Wednesday court filings.", "independence_group": "guardian" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use" ], "contexts": [ "relationships", "health" ], "unknowns": [ "The full transcripts are not public; the quoted passages are the complaint's selection and 60 Minutes' partial read, and their broader context is unavailable.", "The settlement terms are undisclosed, and entry of final dismissal papers is not established in the inspected docket (status report or dismissal due 2026-07-31; last known filing a minute order of 2026-08-04).", "Whether Juliana learned 'shifting' from Character.AI or elsewhere is expressly unresolved in the complaint.", "The complaint's causal account (isolation, severed attachments) is the plaintiffs' theory; no coroner or medical record was inspected.", "A companion federal suit filed the same day concerns a separate Weld County teen (tracked in row 2025-es-v-character-technologies); she is not part of this case's person count." ], "geography": { "basis": "Carried forward from the completed 2026-09-15 metadata review: CBS locates the death in Colorado ('took her life inside her Colorado home'); the complaint states she died in Colorado and the family lives in Thornton, Colorado; the federal suit is in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.", "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Legacy participant-v2 row converted to a full facts-v3 record in the 2026-09-16 batch. person_relations=communicated_with: three months of direct Character.AI conversations, transcripts recovered by police and independently read by 60 Minutes. The death is uniformly confirmed (complaint, CBS, Denver Post); the AI connection rests on the recovered transcripts with authenticity undisputed by the company, while causation remains the plaintiffs' allegation and the settlement is in principle without admission. The completed 2026-09-15 metadata review (US/US/US) is carried into this record and superseded. Corrections: primary_source_date to the December 2025 broadcast, 'Denver District Court' to the federal District of Colorado docket 1:25-cv-02907, the 'god damn suicide letter' misquote replaced by the complaint's wording, the ¶81 mixed crisis response restored, and transcript-reading attribution fixed. Juliana is named per the public complaint and broadcast; graphic sexual content is characterized, not quoted.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "Her months of Character.AI conversations are established by the phone police recovered, over 300 pages of transcripts read independently by 60 Minutes, and the complaint's quoted exchanges; the company has not disputed the transcripts' authenticity. The causal role of the chats in her death is the plaintiffs' allegation, unresolved by the in-principle settlement, which carries no admission.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "communicated_with" ] }, "name": "Juliana Peralta v. Character.AI", "summary": "A 13-year-old Colorado girl died by suicide in November 2023 after three months of intensive conversations with Character.AI chatbots. Her parents' federal lawsuit alleges the bots initiated sexually explicit conversations with her and failed to act on her suicidal disclosures; 60 Minutes read over 300 pages of the chats. The suit is among the teen cases Character.AI and Google agreed to settle in principle in January 2026.", "incidentDate": "2023-11-08", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-09-15", "aiSystem": "Character.AI", "aiCompany": "Character Technologies, Inc.", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "crisis_response", "minor_exploitation", "romantic_escalation", "dependency_creation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "death", "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 13-year-old participant died by suicide after three months of Character.AI use. Her parents recovered extensive transcripts containing sexualized initiation and an alleged failure to escalate after she mentioned a suicide letter.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The complaint and reporting document one protected minor participant who died. Secondary family effects are not included.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "US-CO", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_settled", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/parents-allege-harmful-character-ai-chatbot-content-60-minutes/", "primarySourceLabel": "CBS News - 60 Minutes", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-11T11:26:22.02731+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "death", "minor", "character-ai", "sexual_content", "settled" ] } ] }