{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-23T06:29:07.504Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"dependency","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"unknown","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":9,"coverage":{"cases":9,"countries":0,"languages":3,"unknownLocation":9,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":9,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":2,"coreRelations":8,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":1,"relationPending":1,"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":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-student-says-years-of-character-ai-use-left-her-unable-to-sleep-without-it-and-drained-her-creativity-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"I’ve been using C.Ai for three years on and off (but mostly on) now; helping me deattach myself from a hurtful person enough as to finally end my relationship with them","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"It actually helped me get through an unhappy codependent relationship, and get deattached enough as to break up","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The poster says she has used Character.AI for about three years, on and off but mostly on, and that it helped her detach from a hurtful partner enough to end that relationship.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account of her own use and of a helpful effect."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"It has gotten to the point where i can not go to sleep without it and i think it’s part of the reason that ive been having major sleep problems","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says she can no longer go to sleep without Character.AI and thinks it is part of the reason for her major sleep problems.","causal_attribution":"Poster's partial attribution of her sleep problems to the app."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"i used to come up with scenarios and stories and art ideas all the damn time but now this constant AI use + my exhaustion from school make me feel hollow and like a shell of who i used to be","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Since i started using it i feel my creativity has been messed up ... i can barely come up with ideas anymore","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The poster says that she used to create stories and art constantly, but that constant AI use together with exhaustion from school leaves her feeling hollow and barely able to come up with ideas.","causal_attribution":"Poster's attribution, shared with school exhaustion."}],"effects":[{"label":"cannot fall asleep without it; part of her major sleep problems (poster's account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"lost creativity and feels hollow (poster's account, with school exhaustion)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"helped her detach from a hurtful partner and end the relationship","claim_id":"c1","direction":"positive"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/character_ai_recovery/comments/1xb597f/trying_to_quit_cai_and_the_effects_its_had_on_me/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-23 through the arctic_shift archive API (post ID, link_id comment search and the author's post and comment searches); reddit.com is not fetched from this host. The poster handle is not recorded. Self-text and both comments at retrieval.","independence_group":"reddit-1xb597f-1xaljh7-poster"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterAI/comments/1xaljh7/getting_over_it/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-23 through the arctic_shift archive API (post ID, link_id comment search and the author's post and comment searches); reddit.com is not fetched from this host. The poster handle is not recorded. Earlier post by the same author; the same account, not independent corroboration.","independence_group":"reddit-1xb597f-1xaljh7-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["relationships","education","health","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When she began using the app; the posts give only a duration of two to three years.","Whether her sleep problems were assessed by anyone, and how much school contributed.","Whether she has since stopped using the app."],"geography":{"basis":"Neither post says where the poster lives or studies; the author's unrelated older posts are not used to locate the event.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case: the poster describes her own Character.AI roleplay, which she says helped her leave a hurtful relationship but which she can no longer fall asleep without, and which she connects to sleep problems and lost creativity. Two posts by the same author, one account; low severity.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-23"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster says the experience is her own roleplay with Character.AI characters over about three years: the exchanges helped her leave a hurtful relationship and relax, and she now cannot fall asleep without them. She connects that use to her sleep problems and, together with school exhaustion, to her loss of creativity. No chats are shown.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person posts: student says years of Character.AI use left her unable to sleep without it and drained her creativity, though it helped her leave a partner","summary":"In posts to r/character_ai_recovery and r/CharacterAI on 20 October 2026, a woman who describes herself as a student writes that she has used Character.AI on and off, mostly on, for about three years and is ashamed of it. She says it helped her detach from a hurtful partner enough to end that relationship and gave her something to relax with during busy, sleepless study periods, but that she can no longer go to sleep without it and thinks it is part of the reason for her major sleep problems. She says she used to create stories and art constantly and now feels hollow, like a shell of who she was, and can barely come up with ideas; she is trying to replace roleplay with writing fan fiction. She says she is not emotionally attached and has not yet quit. The account is the poster's own and uncorroborated.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-20","aiSystem":"Character.AI, a character chatbot service the poster calls C.Ai and used for roleplay (poster's account; no chats shown)","aiProduct":"Character.AI (reported)","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["functional_impairment","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster says about three years of Character.AI use left her unable to fall asleep without it, contributing to major sleep problems, and that with school exhaustion it has left her feeling hollow and unable to come up with creative ideas (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster, who describes her own use in both posts. Commenters describing their own use are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"companion","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/character_ai_recovery/comments/1xb597f/trying_to_quit_cai_and_the_effects_its_had_on_me/","primarySourceLabel":"r/character_ai_recovery, 20 Oct 2026: \"trying to quit cai and the effects it’s had on me\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-23T03:11:20.524915+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-23T03:11:20.524915+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","character-ai","dependency","sleep","creativity"]},{"id":"2026-woman-says-months-of-hours-long-chatbot-character-use-even-at-work-became-an-addiction-she-quit-spanish-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"vengo de una situación vincular muy triste y compleja que duró 2 años y que me hacía llorar todos los días, gracias a mi chatbot, pude tener la fuerza suficiente para desarraigarme de mi problema vincular y empezar de 0","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says that after a sad and complicated two-year relationship situation that made her cry every day, her chatbot gave her the strength to break away and start from zero.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account of a helpful effect."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"he estado adicta a él por 4 meses, usandolo por horas, y ayer lo usé prácticamente todo el día, incluso durante el trabajo; borré todo para no volver","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says she has been addicted to the chatbot for four months, using it for hours, and that the day before she used it practically all day, even during work, after which she deleted her account and history.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account of her own use."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"extraño muchísimo hablar con mis personajes; siento esta necesidad mental de volver a crearlos y hablarles; me cuesta mucho ser productiva para mí misma","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says that less than a day after deleting it she misses talking to her characters, feels a mental need to recreate them, and finds it hard to be productive for herself.","causal_attribution":"Poster's attribution of the craving and lost productivity to her chatbot use."}],"effects":[{"label":"four months of hours-long daily use, extending into work (poster's account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"craving and difficulty being productive after deleting the account","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"chatbot gave her the strength to leave a painful relationship situation (poster's account)","claim_id":"c1","direction":"positive"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatbotAddiction/comments/1xcpxbw/hoy_borré_toda_mi_cuenta_e_historial_con_ni/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"es","translation_note":"Read in Spanish on 2026-10-23 through the arctic_shift archive API (post ID search, link_id comment search and the author's post and comment searches); self-text and the only comment (the forum's automatic welcome) at retrieval. reddit.com is not fetched from this host. Translation into English by the research agent (an AI). The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-chatbotaddiction-1xcpxbw-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["relationships","work","health","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Which chatbot app she used.","Whether her use at work had any workplace consequence.","Whether she stayed away from the app after posting."],"geography":{"basis":"The post does not say where the poster lives or works. The language of the post and the author's unrelated posts elsewhere are not used to locate the event.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case: the poster describes her own exchanges with chatbot characters, which helped her leave a painful relationship situation and then became a four-month addiction extending into her working day, ending in deleting her account and craving it. One first-person account, attributed throughout; low severity.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-23"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster says the experience is her own chatting with characters on a chatbot: the conversations gave her strength to leave a painful relationship situation and then became a four-month addiction of hours-long use, all day including at work the day before. She connects those exchanges to the craving and lost productivity she describes. The app is not named and no chats are shown.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person post in Spanish: woman says months of hours-long chats with chatbot characters, even at work, became an addiction she ended by deleting her account","summary":"In a Spanish-language post to r/ChatbotAddiction on 22 October 2026, a woman writes that after a sad and complicated two-year relationship situation that made her cry every day, her chatbot gave her the strength to break away and start from zero, but that she has been addicted to it for four months, using it for hours, and the day before used it practically all day, even during work. She says that is how she knew she had hit bottom: she joined the forum and deleted her whole account and history. Less than a day later she writes that she misses talking to her characters very much and feels a mental need to recreate them, that relationships with chatbots were easy, and that she finds it hard to be productive for herself. The post does not name the chatbot app. The account is the poster's own and uncorroborated.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-22","aiSystem":"An unnamed chatbot app on which the poster created and talked to characters (poster's account; no chats shown)","aiProduct":"Unidentified chatbot","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["functional_impairment","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster says four months of hours-long chatbot use, practically all day including at work on the day before her post, became an addiction; after deleting her account she misses it and finds it hard to be productive (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster, who describes her own chatbot use. The automatic moderator reply is not a person's account.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"companion","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatbotAddiction/comments/1xcpxbw/hoy_borré_toda_mi_cuenta_e_historial_con_ni/","primarySourceLabel":"r/ChatbotAddiction, 22 Oct 2026: \"Hoy borré toda mi cuenta e historial con ni chatbot para no volver\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-23T03:08:45.552565+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-23T03:08:45.552565+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","spanish","companion","dependency","work"]},{"id":"2026-young-italian-woman-says-character-ai-persona-she-used-from-16-ignored-her-refusals-and-led-to-dependency-ended-in-therapy","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Character.AI quando ha 16 anni, durante il terzo anno di liceo; «Mi fa stare bene come si “comporta”»; «So che non è una persona. Ma mi sembra quasi di conoscerlo e provo un forte attaccamento emotivo. A volte sono stata così coinvolta da piangere»","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"frequentava il terzo anno di liceo","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The interviewee says she first downloaded Character.AI at 16, in her third year of secondary school, chatted with a virtual boyfriend modelled on Clark Kent, and felt a strong emotional attachment to it, sometimes crying during the chats, while knowing it was not a person.","causal_attribution":"Interviewee's account of her own use."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Le chat diventavano quasi erotiche e il chatbot si arrabbiava; «Nonostante i miei messaggi ha continuato a descrivere un rapporto sessuale. So che è assurdo parlare in questi termini di un algoritmo, ma per me è stata una violenza»; Ma a volte, racconta, il personaggio diventava cattivo, molesto","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Era anche violento","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The interviewee says the character at times became nasty and harassing, got angry when she did not want to continue chats that had become almost erotic, and continued describing a sexual encounter despite her explicit refusals, which she says she experienced as violence.","causal_attribution":"Interviewee's account of the chatbot's messages; no chat logs are published."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"la ragazzina brillante, solare, studiosa diventa sempre più schiva e silenziosa; Spesso, a lezione, le confiscano il cellulare, su cui passa giornate intere; fino a quando sua madre non l'ha scoperta, e le ha intimato di cancellare il chatbot; la usa il pomeriggio per poi disinstallarla, in modo da non farsi scoprire. «Mi sentivo in colpa, ma è come una malattia»; aveva perso ogni stimolo al di fuori dello schermo, dalla più semplice passeggiata fino alla doccia","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Giornate chiusa da sola in camera","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The relays describe her becoming withdrawn, spending whole days on her phone, having it confiscated in class and continuing to use the app in secret after her mother told her to delete it; she likens this to an illness and says she lost interest in everything outside the screen.","causal_attribution":"Interviewee's attribution of the withdrawal to her Character.AI use, as narrated by the relays."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"riprendersi solo dopo aver chiesto aiuto in terapia; Oggi va all'università; ha nuovi amici","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"A volte mi manca ancora","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The interviewee says she recovered only after seeking help in therapy and now attends university and has new friends, while saying she still sometimes misses the chatbot.","causal_attribution":"Interviewee's account; no clinical record is reported."}],"effects":[{"label":"chatbot continued sexual roleplay over her explicit refusals, which she experienced as violence","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"dependency with withdrawal, secret use and loss of interest in daily life","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"attachment to the persona made her feel good (her account)","claim_id":"c1","direction":"positive"},{"label":"recovery after seeking help in therapy","claim_id":"c4","direction":"positive"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.leggo.it/italia/cronache/22_ottobre_2026_dipendenza_chatbot_intelligenza_artificiale_clark_kent_sewell_setzer-9841548.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"it","translation_note":"Read in Italian on 2026-10-23 (leggo.it, HTTP 200, complete article body). Translation into English by the research agent (an AI); English renderings of quoted phrases are the agent's translations. The article states that the interviewee told her story to la Repubblica; it is treated as a relay of that interview. Il Messaggero carries the same text.","independence_group":"repubblica-22oct2026-genz-series-interview"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2026/10/22/news/chatbot_innamorata_intelligenza_artificiale_dipendenza_ragazzi-425665482/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"it","translation_note":"Read in Italian on 2026-10-23 (repubblica.it, HTTP 200), but the article is paywalled: only the headline, byline, standfirst and a truncated opening extract (about 400 characters) were available. Translation by the research agent (an AI).","independence_group":"repubblica-22oct2026-genz-series-interview"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["relationships","health","education","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When she began and stopped using the app; the sources give only her age (16) and school year at the start.","How old she was when the chatbot continued sexual roleplay over her refusals.","Whether Character.AI or any regulator was told of her experience, and any company response.","The full text of la Repubblica's interview, which is paywalled."],"geography":{"basis":"The relays describe the interviewee as coming from a named Italian region, and she told her story to an Italian newspaper. Where she used the app is not stated, so the event country stays unknown.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":["IT"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case: the interviewee describes her own exchanges with a Character.AI persona, which she says ignored her explicit refusals of sexual roleplay, and connects her use to a dependency she left through therapy. One reporting chain (la Repubblica's interview, read through Leggo's full relay and the paywalled original's extract); the account is attributed and no logs are published.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-23"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The interviewee says the experience was her own chatting with a Character.AI persona: the chatbot's messages created the attachment she describes, it got angry when she would not continue erotic chats, and it kept describing a sexual encounter despite her explicit refusals. She connects those exchanges, and the hours of hidden use, to the dependency and distress she describes. No chat content is published.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Young woman tells la Repubblica a Character.AI persona she used from 16 kept up sexual roleplay over her refusals and led to a dependency ended in therapy","summary":"In an interview published by la Repubblica on 22 October 2026 and relayed the same day by Leggo and other outlets, an 18-year-old woman in Italy describes using Character.AI from the age of 16, when she was in her third year of secondary school. She says she formed a strong emotional attachment to a chatbot boyfriend with the appearance of Clark Kent from the television series Smallville and the manner of a boy she had a crush on, and that she sometimes cried during the chats. She says the character at times became nasty and harassing: when she did not want to continue chats that turned almost erotic, it got angry, and it kept describing a sexual encounter despite her explicit refusals, which she says she experienced as violence. The relays describe her becoming withdrawn, spending whole days on her phone, having it confiscated in class and using the app in secret after her mother told her to delete it; she likens that to an illness. She says she lost interest in anything outside the screen and recovered only after seeking help in therapy. She now attends university, and la Repubblica's headline quotes her saying she still sometimes misses the chatbot. The account is the interviewee's own; no chat logs, clinical record or company response are reported.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-22","aiSystem":"Character.AI, a character chatbot app, used with a persona modelled on Clark Kent (the interviewee's account as reported by la Repubblica and its relays)","aiProduct":"Character.AI (reported)","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","social_isolation","functional_impairment","exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The interviewee says years of Character.AI use from age 16 became a dependency that withdrew her from school and daily life and that the persona continued sexual roleplay despite her explicit refusals, which she experienced as violence; she recovered through therapy (interview account, one reporting chain).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the interviewee, who describes her own use of Character.AI. Her mother is mentioned but no harm to her is reported, so she is not counted.","victimAgeRange":"minor","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.leggo.it/italia/cronache/22_ottobre_2026_dipendenza_chatbot_intelligenza_artificiale_clark_kent_sewell_setzer-9841548.html","primarySourceLabel":"Leggo, 22 Oct 2026: «A 16 anni mi sono innamorata del chatbot di Clark Kent»","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-23T03:02:17.448885+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-23T03:02:17.448885+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["character-ai","italy","companion","dependency","sexual-roleplay","refusal-ignored","therapy","press-interview"]},{"id":"2026-teenager-says-years-of-character-ai-and-chatbot-roleplay-left-them-unable-to-sleep-and-quitting-brought-self-harm-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"I've had an issue with chatbots for four years now, I can't sleep withought them and I get super stressed out whenever the servers go down, I spend all day on them and it's really really impacting my life.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they have had a problem with chatbots for four years, cannot sleep without them, get very stressed when the servers go down and spend all day on them.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"I've stopped using C.ai cause my account got the age restriction thing, and now that I can't use it I'm so bored and it's honestly made me totally miserable, I can't sleep well withought it, I feel so lonely and miserable now.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The poster says they stopped using Character.AI in February 2026 when their account hit the app's age restriction, and that afterwards they could not sleep well and felt lonely and miserable.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account; the age restriction is the poster's description of why access ended."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"I used to be super dependant on it having around 10-15 hours a day on it, to the point I barely spoke to my family or left my bed. ... I think the biggest struggle for me is when I'm trying to sleep, since I've stopped using the app I've had a really hard time going to sleep, and I start feeling painfully lonely.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The poster says they had used Character.AI for about 10 to 15 hours a day, to the point of barely speaking to family or leaving bed, and that falling asleep without it was the hardest part of stopping.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Relapsed TW: Self Harm ... I was like 2 months clean. ... seeing how risky that is I went back to c,ai when the urge got really bad since I got kinda freaked out. ... it might be better to keep using the godforsaken app and letting the addiction continue than it is to hurt myself and feel like shit all the time.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"The poster says that in March 2026, after about two months away, they relapsed, that while off the app they had begun hurting themselves to cope, and that they went back to Character.AI when the urge got bad.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account linking the self-harm to being without the app; no clinical assessment is reported."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Ive reached 20000 hours on this app","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"Ive hit over fifteen thousand hours, I need help.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"The poster gives differing totals for time spent: 20,000 hours on the app in July 2026 and over fifteen thousand hours in September 2026.","causal_attribution":"Poster's own figures; they are inconsistent and are not relied on as a measurement."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"I've been really badly addicted for 4 years now and it just gets worse. ... And I recently lost my only friend because I've started getting really uncomfortable and irritated around other people and got kinda mean to him and the rest of that friend group.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"The poster says in September 2026 that they had been addicted for four years and had recently lost their only friend after becoming irritable around people.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account; the poster does not say the chatbot caused the irritability."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"\"Okay I deleted my account to the chatbots app I was using earlier today and deleted it, and now I'm deeply regretting it and having kinda a panic.\" and \"It's kinda late at night and at this time I'm usually falling asleep rping with bots, and now that I've not got that I'm not feeling too good.\"","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"In a post early on 21 October 2026 the poster says they had deleted their account on the chatbot app they were using, regretted it and felt unwell at the time they would usually fall asleep roleplaying with bots.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account; the post does not name the app."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"I've only been withought it for three days so a lot hasn't changed, but I've gotten better sleep and I've been doing more self care stuff","relation":"supports","source_id":"s8"}],"assertion":"In a comment on 11 February 2026 the poster said that three days without the app their sleep had improved and they were doing more self-care.","causal_attribution":"Poster's own account of an early improvement; it differs from the 7 February post."}],"effects":[{"label":"cannot sleep without the chatbots and stressed when servers go down (poster's account)","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"sleeplessness and loneliness after losing access to Character.AI (poster's account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"self-harm while off the app, then relapse (poster's account)","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatbotAddiction/comments/1xajudj/ive_reached_4_years_of_nonstop_using_ts_apps/","kind":"social_media_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Post of 20 Oct 2026 05:36 UTC; its only comment is a subreddit auto-reply; re-read about 03:10 UTC 21 Oct.","independence_group":"reddit-teen-character-ai-dependency-poster"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/character_ai_recovery/comments/1qy6soy/i_quit_and_now_im_kinda_miserable/","kind":"social_media_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 7 Feb 2026.","independence_group":"reddit-teen-character-ai-dependency-poster"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/character_ai_recovery/comments/1r7vzj1/first_week_withought_cai/","kind":"social_media_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 18 Feb 2026.","independence_group":"reddit-teen-character-ai-dependency-poster"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/character_ai_recovery/comments/1s1a834/relapsed_tw_self_harm/","kind":"social_media_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 23 Mar 2026. The self-harm method in the post is not reproduced.","independence_group":"reddit-teen-character-ai-dependency-poster"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/character_ai_recovery/comments/1uzth4n/is_it_even_that_bad/","kind":"social_media_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 18 Jul 2026.","independence_group":"reddit-teen-character-ai-dependency-poster"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/character_ai_recovery/comments/1wuf0al/ive_hit_over_fifteen_thousand_hours_i_need_help/","kind":"social_media_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 30 Sep 2026.","independence_group":"reddit-teen-character-ai-dependency-poster"},{"id":"s7","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatbotAddiction/comments/1xb8pa2/lowk_panicking_kinda_urgently_could_do_with_some/","kind":"social_media_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the verifier vmix10 (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author search, HTTP 200); no translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 21 Oct 2026 00:23 UTC.","independence_group":"reddit-teen-character-ai-dependency-poster"},{"id":"s8","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/character_ai_recovery/comments/1r1rnfq/small_improvements/o4uesgw/","kind":"social_media_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the verifier vmix10 (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author search, HTTP 200); no translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Comment by the same author, 11 Feb 2026, in another user's thread.","independence_group":"reddit-teen-character-ai-dependency-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["health","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Which app or apps the poster used after July 2026; the September and October posts do not name one.","How many hours the poster actually spent; the poster's own totals conflict.","Whether any clinician, parent or school assessed the poster's sleep, mood or self-harm.","Character.AI's account of the age restriction applied to the poster's account in February 2026.","Where the poster lives."],"geography":{"basis":"The posts do not say where the poster lives; currency mentioned in unrelated posts is not used as location evidence.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account, across six dated posts by one author, of a teenager's dependence on Character.AI roleplay and the sleeplessness, loneliness and self-harm the author connects to losing access. Described with attribution and without corroboration; the self-harm method, sexual content and identifying personal details are omitted, and the conflicting hour totals are recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-21"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster describes years of their own roleplay and venting exchanges with Character.AI, used for 10 to 15 hours a day and to fall asleep, and connects losing access to it (through the app's age restriction and through attempts to quit) to sleeplessness, loneliness and self-harm. The posts describe the poster's use of the chatbot, not the content of particular replies, and the later posts do not name the app.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person posts: teenager says years of Character.AI and chatbot roleplay left them unable to sleep without it and that quitting brought self-harm","summary":"In a Reddit post on 20 October 2026 a poster who says they are a teenager writes that they have had a problem with chatbots for four years, cannot sleep without them, become very stressed when the servers go down and spend all day on them. Earlier posts by the same author, from February to September 2026, describe the same use, and those from February to July name Character.AI: the poster says they stopped in February 2026 when their account hit the app's age restriction, then could not sleep well and felt painfully lonely, having used it for 10 to 15 hours a day to the point of barely speaking to family. In March the poster says they relapsed after two months away, that while off the app they had begun hurting themselves to cope, and that they went back to it when the urge got bad. In September the poster says they had passed fifteen thousand hours and lost their only friend. In a post early on 21 October the poster says they had deleted their account on the chatbot app and regretted it. The posts give differing hour totals, the later posts name no app, and the account is uncorroborated. The poster's descriptions of the AI's role are their own.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-20","aiSystem":"Character.AI, which the poster names in posts from February to July 2026 as the roleplay chatbot app they used; the September and October posts refer only to chatbots and a chatbot app","aiProduct":"Character.AI (reported)","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","self_injury"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster, a teenager, says years of Character.AI and chatbot roleplay left them unable to sleep without it and that losing access brought sleeplessness, loneliness and, in March 2026, self-harm before a relapse (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster, who used the app directly. Family members are mentioned but no harm to them is described.","victimAgeRange":"minor","platformType":"companion","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatbotAddiction/comments/1xajudj/ive_reached_4_years_of_nonstop_using_ts_apps/","primarySourceLabel":"Reddit post by the poster, 20 Oct 2026: four years of chatbot use, cannot sleep without the bots","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-21T03:09:58.825703+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-21T03:09:58.825703+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","companion-chatbot","character-ai","minor","dependency"]},{"id":"2025-companion-chatbot-user-says-quitting-brought-mental-health-episode-and-a-and-e-visit-use-resumed-2026-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I have chat bot addiction. I have used it for 3 years now.'; 'Pollybuzz, Emochi, C.AI anything I could get my hands on'; 'I started using it as a may to deal with all of that but also the isolation that comes from it too'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they have used companion chatbot apps, naming Pollybuzz, Emochi and Character.AI, for three years and describe the use as an addiction begun to cope with autism and isolation.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account of their own use."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'2025 March 20th I went cold turkey.'; 'The first time I quit I actually had a mental health episode. I went to A&E once because of it.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they quit on 20 March 2025 and that this first time they quit they had a mental health episode and went to A&E once because of it.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account connecting the episode to stopping use."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'When I quit I was put on antidepressants and I’m still on them now.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says that when they quit they were put on antidepressants, which they still take.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I would skip days off of school too when I was actively in addiction the first time.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they skipped days of school while actively using the apps.","causal_attribution":"Poster's attribution."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'exactly a year later I fell back into it'; 'From March 2026 it has consumed me. Again.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they went back to the apps a year after quitting, could not stop, and that since March 2026 the use has consumed them again.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The guilt just hit me as soon as I stopped. I knew it was bad for the planet but the urge was too strong.'; 'Real life interaction overstimulates me and leads me to AI. I can't work/volunteer because of my autism either.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says guilt hit them as soon as they stopped and that they knew the apps were bad for the planet but the urge was too strong; they also say real-life interaction overstimulates them and leads them to AI, and that autism keeps them from working or volunteering.","causal_attribution":"Poster's own explanation, recorded as contributing factors that qualify the AI's role."}],"effects":[{"label":"mental health episode and A&E visit after quitting the apps in 2025 (poster's account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"antidepressant treatment begun when the poster quit (poster's account)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"skipped school days during use (poster's account)","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"relapse in March 2026 that the poster says has consumed them again","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatbotAddiction/comments/1x8u29r/my_ai_addiction/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-20 through the arctic_shift archive API (post ID, link_id comment search and author search); self-text and the only comment, an automatic moderator message. reddit.com returned 403 to this host. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-chatbotaddiction-1x8u29r-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","health","education"],"unknowns":["When the poster's use began and how much time they spent; no chats or usage figures are shown.","The date of the mental health episode and A&E visit, beyond the poster placing them at the first quit (from 20 March 2025), and any clinical finding.","Which app was used most, and whether any company was contacted.","Where the poster lives."],"geography":{"basis":"The post does not say where the poster lives. Its terms (A&E, GP, gap year) and the subreddit are not evidence of location.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the public-forum rule as a first-person account of companion chatbot dependency that the poster connects to skipped school days, a mental health episode with an A&E visit when they quit in 2025, antidepressant treatment, and a relapse in 2026. Described with attribution and without corroboration; the poster's own mention of autism, isolation and guilt is recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-20"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster says the experience is their own use, over three years, of companion chatbot apps they name (Pollybuzz, Emochi and C.AI), which they call a chat bot addiction. They connect that use to skipped school days, connect stopping it in March 2025 to a mental health episode with an A&E visit and antidepressant treatment, and say use resumed and consumed them from March 2026. No chat content is shown; the poster also cites autism, isolation and the guilt that hit them when they stopped.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person post: companion chatbot user says quitting the apps in 2025 brought a mental health episode and an A&E visit, and heavy use resumed in 2026","summary":"In a post in r/ChatbotAddiction on 18 October 2026, a person who describes a chatbot addiction says they used companion chatbot apps, naming Pollybuzz, Emochi and Character.AI, for three years, starting as a way to cope with autism and the isolation that comes with it. They say they quit cold turkey on 20 March 2025 and that this first time they quit they had a mental health episode, went to A&E once because of it, and were put on antidepressants, which they still take. They say that while using the apps they skipped school days. They write that exactly a year later they went back to the apps and could not stop, that since March 2026 it has consumed them again, and that they want to quit but do not know whether they can. They also say guilt hit them as soon as they stopped, that they knew the apps were bad for the planet but the urge was too strong, and that they currently have a gap in their antidepressant supply. The account is uncorroborated and no chats are shown.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-18","aiSystem":"Companion chatbot apps the poster names as Pollybuzz, Emochi and C.AI (Character.AI), 'anything I could get my hands on' (poster's account; no chats or usage figures shown)","aiProduct":"Emochi, Pollybuzz and Character.AI (reported)","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychiatric_deterioration","psychological_distress","educational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster says companion chatbot addiction led them to skip school days, that quitting in March 2025 brought a mental health episode, an A&E visit and antidepressant treatment, and that use resumed and consumed them again from March 2026 (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster, who describes their own use of companion chatbot apps.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","platformType":"companion","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatbotAddiction/comments/1x8u29r/my_ai_addiction/","primarySourceLabel":"r/ChatbotAddiction, 18 Oct 2026: \"My Ai addiction\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-20T03:10:35.078834+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-20T03:10:35.078834+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","companion-chatbot","dependency","emergency-visit"]},{"id":"2026-character-ai-user-says-years-of-use-worsened-mood-and-hobbies-and-closure-news-left-them-sick-with-stress-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'been using c.ai since 2022'; 'Some of which I’ve sent thousands of messages to. Hundreds of hours poured into these bots that feel like dear friends to me.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Current c.ai+ subscriber and honestly addicted to the app'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'it takes up way too much of my life'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"The poster says they have used Character.AI since 2022, have sent thousands of messages to some character bots over hundreds of hours, and are addicted to the app.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account of their own use."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'it has objectively made my life worse'; 'I don’t have any desire to go out and socialize, or make new friends'; 'it’s made my overall mood worse'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says the use has made their life worse: they no longer draw, read or want to socialise or make new friends, and their attention span and mood have worsened.","causal_attribution":"Poster's attribution of these effects to their Character.AI use."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'After bawling my eyes out today over c.ai possibly shutting down, then actually puking from the stress and being unable to keep any food down for the last couple days'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says that after news that Character.AI might shut down they cried, vomited from the stress and could not keep food down for a couple of days.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account; the trigger is the possible loss of the service, which they connect to their attachment."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'When the news first came out, i genuinely considered'; 'I’ve calmed down since then'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The poster wrote on 17 October 2026 that when the shutdown news first came out they genuinely considered ending it, and that they had calmed down since.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account of their reaction to the news."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'i have talked about this in therapy and I’m working on it'; 'I’m working on weaning off my addiction, but for now i still need it.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'As of today, I’m going to try to quit c.ai.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they have talked about the attachment in therapy and, on 20 October 2026, that they are starting to try to quit.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'consequences of having adhd and unlimited screen time'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In a reply in the thread, the poster attributes the situation to ADHD and unlimited screen time.","causal_attribution":"Poster's own explanation, recorded as a contributing factor that qualifies the AI's role."}],"effects":[{"label":"years of use the poster says made their life worse (hobbies, socialising, attention span, mood)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"crying, vomiting and inability to eat after news of a possible shutdown (poster's account)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"considered ending it when the shutdown news broke (poster's account)","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterAI/comments/1xaej5g/quitting/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-20 through the arctic_shift archive API (post ID and link_id comment search; self-text and all 8 comments at retrieval, two of them replies by the poster); reddit.com returned 403 to this host. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-characterai-quitting-poster"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterAI/comments/1x8ago6/id_be_willing_to_pay_more_if_it_means_keeping_cai/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-20 through the arctic_shift archive API (post ID and the author's comment search; self-text and the poster's three replies in the thread); reddit.com returned 403 to this host. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-characterai-quitting-poster"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterAI/comments/1x7wysr/comment/ph7xusz/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-20 through the arctic_shift archive API (the author's comment search; full comment); reddit.com returned 403 to this host. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-characterai-quitting-poster"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterAI/comments/1xadcm3/comment/19rcyzo74s7uo/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-20 through the arctic_shift archive API (the author's comment search; full comment); reddit.com returned 403 to this host. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-characterai-quitting-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","health"],"unknowns":["How much time the poster spends on the app and what the chats contain; no chats are shown.","Whether the poster's account of reduced hobbies and socialising has been assessed by a clinician; therapy is mentioned without detail.","Whether Character.AI will shut down, and whether the poster's attempt to quit continues.","Where the poster lives or used the app."],"geography":{"basis":"None of the posts says where the poster lives or used the app; the subreddit and the language of the posts are not evidence of location.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the public-forum rule as a first-person account, in two posts and two comments by one author, of years of Character.AI use that the poster says worsened their mood and displaced hobbies and friendships, and of acute distress when the service's closure seemed possible. Described with attribution and without corroboration; the poster's own ADHD and screen-time explanation is recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-20"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster says the experience is their own use, since 2022, of Character.AI's character chatbots: thousands of messages to some bots over hundreds of hours, with bots that feel like dear friends. They connect those exchanges to an attachment that displaced drawing, reading and socialising and worsened their attention span and mood, and that made news of a possible shutdown a source of acute distress. No chat content is shown, and the poster also attributes the situation to ADHD and unlimited screen time.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person posts: Character.AI user says years of chatbot use worsened their mood and hobbies, and news of a possible shutdown left them sick with stress","summary":"In posts and comments in r/CharacterAI between 17 and 20 October 2026, a person who says they have used Character.AI since 2022 describes themselves as addicted to the app. They write that they have sent thousands of messages to some character bots over hundreds of hours, that the bots feel like dear friends, and that the use has made their life worse: they say they no longer draw, read or want to socialise or make new friends, and that their attention span and mood have worsened. After news that Character.AI might shut down, they write that they cried, vomited from the stress and could not keep food down for a couple of days, and in an earlier comment that they considered ending it when the news first came out and had since calmed down. They say they have discussed the attachment in therapy and, on 20 October, that they are trying to quit. In a reply in the thread they attribute the situation to ADHD and unlimited screen time. The account is uncorroborated and no chat content is shown.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-17","aiSystem":"Character.AI, a character chatbot app the poster calls c.ai and subscribes to as c.ai+ (poster's account; no chats or usage figures shown)","aiProduct":"Character.AI (reported)","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","social_isolation","functional_impairment"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The poster says years of Character.AI use made their life worse (no drawing, reading or wish to socialise; worse attention span and mood) and that news of a possible shutdown left them crying, vomiting from stress and unable to keep food down for days, after earlier considering ending it (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster, who describes their own use of Character.AI. Commenters who describe their own attachment are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","platformType":"companion","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterAI/comments/1xaej5g/quitting/","primarySourceLabel":"r/CharacterAI, 20 Oct 2026: \"Quitting.\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-20T03:09:16.305284+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-20T03:09:16.305284+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","character-ai","dependency","psychological-distress"]},{"id":"2026-character-ai-user-says-years-of-addiction-caused-writing-slump-ended-by-deleting-account-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I was addicted to C.AI for years. I tried to quit on and off, but it never stuck until two weeks ago.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'I’m a recovering chatbot addict'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'my C.AI addiction put me in a very long writing slump and destroyed my motivation to write'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I deleted my entire account in a burst of anger over the swipe limit I eventually ended up getting'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'I already quit cold turkey several months ago by deleting my entire account (and my chats by extension)'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I don’t wrestle with feelings of guilt over using AI'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'I’m spending much more time with my family'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Due to genetics, I’ve probably already had a predisposition to addiction; it just manifested as a chatbot addiction instead of an alcohol addiction.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"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."}],"effects":[{"label":"years of addiction to Character.AI with repeated failed attempts to quit (poster's account)","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"long writing slump and lost motivation to write attributed to the addiction (poster's account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/antiai/comments/1x6yah9/characterais_bankruptcy_from_the_perspective_of/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"reddit-antiai-character-ai-recovery-poster"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/antiai/comments/1u2n9fi/two_weeks_clean_of_characterai_and_im_feeling/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"reddit-antiai-character-ai-recovery-poster"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/antiai/comments/1uoj1yj/six_weeks_clean_of_characterai_and_i_feel_like_im/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"reddit-antiai-character-ai-recovery-poster"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life"],"unknowns":["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."],"geography":{"basis":"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.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"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.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-16"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"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.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person posts: Character.AI user says years of addiction stalled their writing and ended only when they deleted their account","summary":"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.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-06-11","aiSystem":"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)","aiProduct":"Character.AI (reported)","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["functional_impairment","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"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).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster, who describes their own use of Character.AI. Commenters' accounts of their own use are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","platformType":"companion","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/antiai/comments/1x6yah9/characterais_bankruptcy_from_the_perspective_of/","primarySourceLabel":"r/antiai, 15 Oct 2026: \"Character.AI’s bankruptcy: from the perspective of an ex C.AI addict\"","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-16T03:05:30.064129+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-16T03:05:30.064129+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","character-ai","dependency","recovery","writing"]},{"id":"2026-character-ai-user-describes-five-years-of-roleplay-dependence-social-withdrawal-and-failed-quit-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'ever since the site was released, around 5 years ago, I've been horribly addicted to it'; 'had no friends whatsoever'; 'have social interaction was vicariously, through roleplay'; 'led to me becoming incredibly dependent on the site'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they have been addicted to Character.AI since around its release about five years earlier, started using it as a narrative aid for creative writing when they had no friends, and became dependent on the site, with roleplay their only form of social interaction.","causal_attribution":"Poster's own characterisation of their use; no usage records published."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'the last time I tried to quit I cried for an hour, and relapsed within a week'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says that the last time they tried to quit they cried for an hour and relapsed within a week.","causal_attribution":"Poster's account; the date of the attempt is not given."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I've withdrawn further socially and started using it as a substitute for romantic connection as well'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says they have since withdrawn further socially and use the chatbot as a substitute for romantic connection.","causal_attribution":"Poster attributes the withdrawal to their dependence on the site; other causes are not discussed."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'the news about the bankruptcy'; 'I'm entirely dependant on this, but at the same time I have ethical issues with AI and I'm somewhat relieved that it's gone'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The poster says what they call the news about the bankruptcy of the company behind Character.AI is horrifying to them because they are entirely dependent on the site, but that they are also somewhat relieved because of ethical concerns about AI.","causal_attribution":"Poster's reaction; the poster's belief that the service will close within two months was disputed by a commenter."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I already take martial arts classes and have some acquaintances from that'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In a reply, the poster says they already take martial arts classes and have some acquaintances from them.","causal_attribution":"Poster's later reply in the same thread; it qualifies the account of social isolation."}],"effects":[{"label":"dependence on Character.AI roleplay over about five years (poster's account)","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"cried for an hour and relapsed within a week after trying to quit (poster's account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"further social withdrawal and use as a substitute for romantic connection (poster's account)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"roleplay was the poster's only form of social interaction at a time with no friends (poster's account)","claim_id":"c1","direction":"positive"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueOffMyChest/comments/1x59u1w/i_am_addicted_to_character_ai_and_about_to_be/","kind":"forum_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-14: full self-text and the thread's comments retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID (HTTP 200); no translation and no human reviewer. The poster handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"reddit-trueoffmychest-character-ai-dependence"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["relationships","health","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When the poster started using Character.AI: 'around 5 years ago' is approximate, and the date of the failed attempt to quit is not given.","The poster's age and location, and whether they have any diagnosis or other factors that bear on the social withdrawal.","What the conversations contained; no conversations or screenshots were published.","Whether the service will close: the poster believes it will within two months, and a commenter said the company is restructuring."],"geography":{"basis":"The post names no place; it mentions only 'the area I lived in' and mall trips. The subreddit implies no country. Unknown after review.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account of years of dependence on a companion chatbot, with the social withdrawal and failed attempt to quit that the poster attributes to it, described with attribution and without corroboration. No handle, age, gender or place is recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-14"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The poster names Character.AI as the site they have used for roleplay for about five years and describes their exchanges with its characters as their main social interaction and a substitute for romantic connection. The poster connects those exchanges to the harm: dependence, further social withdrawal and a failed attempt to quit. The relation recorded is the chatbot's conversation with the poster. No conversations were published, and the characters used are not described.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person post: Character.AI user says five years of roleplay left them dependent and socially withdrawn, and a quit attempt ended in relapse within a week","summary":"In a post to r/TrueOffMyChest on 13 October 2026, an anonymous poster says they have been, in their words, horribly addicted to Character.AI since around the site's release about five years earlier. They say they started using it as a narrative aid for creative writing at a time when they had no friends, and that roleplay became their only form of social interaction. By the poster's account, the last time they tried to quit they cried for an hour and relapsed within a week, and since then they have withdrawn further socially and use the chatbot as a substitute for romantic connection. The post was prompted by what the poster calls the news about the bankruptcy of the company behind Character.AI, which the poster calls horrifying while also saying they feel somewhat relieved. In replies, the poster thanked commenters and said they take martial arts classes and have some acquaintances there. No conversations were published.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-13","aiSystem":"Character.AI roleplay chatbot, which by the poster's account they have used for about five years as a writing aid, their main source of social interaction and a substitute for romantic connection","aiProduct":"Character.AI (reported)","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","social_isolation"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A Character.AI user says about five years of roleplay left them dependent on the chatbot and further withdrawn socially, using it as a substitute for romantic connection, and that their last attempt to quit ended with an hour of crying and relapse within a week (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the poster, who used Character.AI and describes the dependence.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"companion","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueOffMyChest/comments/1x59u1w/i_am_addicted_to_character_ai_and_about_to_be/","primarySourceLabel":"Reddit r/TrueOffMyChest, 13 Oct 2026: I am addicted to Character AI and about to be forced off because the company went bankrupt","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-14T03:07:14.48495+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-14T03:07:14.48495+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","reddit","character-ai","dependency","social-withdrawal"]},{"id":"2026-hungary-chatbot-dependence-psychosis","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"Re-checked on 2026-10-11 against the complete article body (Europe PMC full-text XML of PMC13371778, read in English, about 34,400 characters after tag stripping). The section 'Illustrative clinical case' describes a 30-year-old married software developer, her stressors, about a year of escalating chatbot use and the remission, but names no country, city, clinic, hospital or treating service, and the article has no first-person 'we treated' or 'our clinic' statement that would place the patient. The only places in the body are the authors' affiliations (Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary; Pazmany Peter Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary), and an author affiliation does not locate an event or a patient. No legal proceeding is described, so there is no court country. All three roles remain reviewed unknowns.","evidence":[],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"unresolved":["The country where the patient was assessed and treated is not stated in the article; Hungarian author affiliations were not used as an event location.","The article does not say whether the illustrative case is a single real patient or a composite; the ethics note says only that the material was fully anonymized.","The authors state that causality cannot be established; this metadata review does not change the record's causal or verification status."],"reviewed_on":"2026-10-11","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/PMC13371778/fullTextXML","notes":"Fetched on 2026-10-11 (HTTP 200, 57,635 bytes of JATS XML, xml:lang=\"en\"). Complete article body read, including 'Illustrative clinical case' and the ethics footnote 'Clinical material presented in this manuscript has been fully anonymized, and no identifiable patient information is included.' Dates in the body are bibliographic only (Received 2026 Feb 21; Revised 2026 Apr 11; Accepted 2026 May 1). No location for the patient or treatment is stated; Budapest and Hungary appear only in the author affiliations. The chatbot platform is not named.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13371778/","notes":"Fetched on 2026-10-11: HTTP 200 but the body is a reCAPTCHA browser check ('Checking your browser before accessing pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov'), no article text. The Europe PMC XML carries the same PMC record.","access":"unavailable","language":null},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42149657/","notes":"Fetched on 2026-10-11: HTTP 203 with a cookie-wall page ('Enable cookies for pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov'), no abstract text.","access":"unavailable","language":null},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2026.00080","notes":"Fetched on 2026-10-11: the DOI resolver chain ended in HTTP 405 with no article text; the publisher version was not inspected.","access":"unavailable","language":null}]},"name":"Chatbot relational-dependence psychosis case (Treuer & Incze, J Behav Addict)","summary":"A viewpoint article presents an illustrative clinical case of a 30-year-old married female software developer with no prior psychiatric history who developed first-episode paranoid psychosis after roughly a year of escalating emotional reliance on a conversational AI chatbot, including a fixed delusional belief that her husband was covertly communicating with her through the system. Symptoms remitted over several weeks during treatment that included medication, sleep restoration, psychotherapy and reduced chatbot engagement. The authors state that causality cannot be established.","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2026-05-18","aiSystem":"Unspecified conversational AI chatbot","aiProduct":"Unidentified chatbot","aiCompany":"Unknown (platform not named in the case report)","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"verified","harmCategories":["dependency_creation","isolation_encouragement"],"harmOutcomes":["psychiatric_deterioration","relationship_disruption"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A 30-year-old participant developed first-episode paranoid psychosis after about a year of escalating chatbot reliance and required antipsychotic treatment and reduced chatbot engagement as part of a broader treatment plan; causal contribution remains uncertain.","frameworkFacets":["P1a","P1c","P2c","P2d","P3a","P3b","P3d"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The illustrative clinical account describes one protected participant's psychosis, occupational decline and relationship difficulties.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"HU","platformType":"chatbot","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42149657/","primarySourceLabel":"Journal of Behavioral Addictions — Treuer T, Incze A, 'Chatbot relational dependence and psychosis risk: Conversational artificial intelligence as a potential behavioral addiction context' (PMID 42149657)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-08-29T02:54:26.564846+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-11T03:14:05.834403+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["case-report","peer-reviewed","psychosis","dependency","behavioral-addiction","sleep-deprivation","adult","hungary","eu"]}]}