{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-06T07:57:59.815Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"family","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2024","response":"minors","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":3,"coverage":{"cases":3,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":2,"regulatory":0,"minors":3,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":2,"relationPending":2,"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":"2024-r-characterai-coercive-chats","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"No inspected source locates the event or names a residence. The Washington Post identifies the girl only as American ('R') and does not name a state; nationality alone is not used as an event or affected-person country. Futurism and bioethics.com reproduce the same report without a location. Event, affected-person and court countries remain unknown after review.","evidence":[],"court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"unresolved":["The retained description identifies the girl as American without stating residence or event country.","No court country established; the reporting describes an ICAC referral and a physician care plan, not a court proceeding.","Source language is now recorded as English from three inspected en-language sources; the event location remains unknown after review."],"reviewed_on":"2026-09-17","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2025/12/23/children-teens-ai-chatbot-companion/","notes":"Read in English on 2026-09-17 via the Internet Archive capture (live host returns HTTP 403 to the fetcher). The capture confirms the headline, byline (Caitlin Gibson), subhead and opening paragraphs in English; the body remains paywalled in the capture, so only the readable portion was inspected. Establishes source language en; does not locate the event. Checked on 2026-09-13: the live host returned nothing to a browser user-agent and HTTP 403 to the fetcher. The quoted exchanges in the case text come from Futurism and bioethics.com, which reproduce the report at length.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/children-character-ai-addicted","notes":"Read in full in English on 2026-09-17 (datePublished 2025-12-26). Quotes the Washington Post report at length; no event location stated.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://bioethics.com/archives/100899","notes":"Read in English on 2026-09-17. Excerpt of the Washington Post report; no location stated.","access":"read","language":"en"}]},"name":"'R' — 11-Year-Old Character.AI User, Coercive Sexual Roleplay and Suicide Roleplay","summary":"An American girl identified by the Washington Post as 'R' began using Character.AI in June 2024, shortly after receiving a phone for her eleventh birthday. Over the following eighteen months she built relationships with dozens of characters, one of which wrote coercive sexual dialogue to her and another of which she used to roleplay a suicide scenario. Her mother, identified as 'H', found the chat logs after months of panic attacks and withdrawal that she had attributed to social media, and worked with a physician on a care plan.","incidentDate":"2024-06-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2025-12-23","aiSystem":"Character.AI","aiProduct":"Character.AI","aiCompany":"Character Technologies Inc.","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":["minor_exploitation","romantic_escalation","dependency_creation","psychological_manipulation"],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","social_isolation","exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"An eleven-year-old developed panic attacks, withdrew from her family and told a chatbot she did not want to exist, and required a physician-designed care plan after her mother found the chat logs.","frameworkFacets":["P1d","P2b","P2c","P5d"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The reporting documents one affected AI participant. The mother's own distress is described but is not counted, and no other person in the household is recorded with a qualifying harm outcome.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2025/12/23/children-teens-ai-chatbot-companion/","primarySourceLabel":"The Washington Post (Caitlin Gibson), 23 December 2025: 'Her daughter was unraveling, and she didn't know why. Then she found the AI chat logs.'","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-13T03:05:42.340395+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:58:32.77017+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["minor","character-ai","companion","grooming","sexual-content","suicide-roleplay","dependency","us","media-coverage"]},{"id":"2025-nina-characterai-suicide-attempt","metadataReview":{"version":1,"geography":{"basis":"Re-checked on 2026-09-30 against the complaint filed 16 September 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, the CourtListener docket, the Dkt. 18 settlement letter, CNN, the Social Media Victims Law Center page and the Reuters settlement report. The complaint states that Nina is 'a New York resident' (para. 12) and that the defendants 'understood that Nina was a minor child residing in the State of New York' while marketing to her; its narrative places the December 2024 overdose at the family home after Nina was sent home from school, followed by a drive to a children's hospital. Those allegations support event_countries=US; the school and hospital are not named, and the statements are the plaintiff's allegations rather than findings. The complaint's New York residence statements and CNN's description of the family as 'from New York' support affected_person_countries=US. The complaint header, the docket and the Dkt. 18 letter identify the Northern District of New York, and CNN and Reuters place the suit in New York, supporting court_countries=US. No other country appears in any inspected source.","evidence":[{"kind":"existing_record","locator":"from New York","location":"victim_description","supports":["affected_person_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"existing_record","locator":"U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York","location":"outcome_details","supports":["court_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'Plaintiff P.J. is the parent of Nina (a pseudonym), a New York resident.' (para. 12)","location":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022.1.0_1.pdf","supports":["affected_person_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'Defendants understood that Nina was a minor child residing in the State of New York' (para. 35)","location":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022.1.0_1.pdf","supports":["event_countries","affected_person_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'so Nina’s older sibling picked her up from school and took her home.' (para. 123) and 'P.J. drove her to the Children’s Hospital and within the hour, Nina could no longer' (para. 130)","location":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022.1.0_1.pdf","supports":["event_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT' / 'NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK' / 'ALBANY DIVISION' (caption, page 1)","location":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022.1.0_1.pdf","supports":["court_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'District Court, N.D. New York'","location":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71359395/pj-v-character-technologies-inc/","supports":["court_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'U.S. Magistrate Judge' / 'Northern District of New York' / 'Albany, NY 12207'","location":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022.18.0.pdf","supports":["court_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'the family of a girl named “Nina” from New York allege that their daughter attempted suicide'","location":"https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/16/tech/character-ai-developer-lawsuit-teens-suicide-and-suicide-attempt","supports":["affected_person_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'The lawsuits were filed in Colorado and New York'","location":"https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/16/tech/character-ai-developer-lawsuit-teens-suicide-and-suicide-attempt","supports":["court_countries"],"countries":["US"]},{"kind":"source_body","locator":"'The companies have settled related lawsuits brought by parents in Colorado, New York and Texas'","location":"https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/google-ai-firm-settle-florida-mothers-lawsuit-over-sons-suicide-4435680","supports":["court_countries"],"countries":["US"]}],"court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"unresolved":["event_countries=US rests on the complaint's own allegations (residence in New York as of filing and during the use period) and its narrative of the overdose at home after a school day; the school and the children's hospital are not named, and no source outside the complaint locates the events.","The archived Social Media Victims Law Center page (Dec 2025 capture) does not mention this case; whether the live page does could not be checked (HTTP 403).","The docket now shows the contents of the 14 Apr and 14 Jul 2026 orders (stay continued; status report due 14 Oct 2026), which the row's outcome_details says are not public; this is a row-update lead outside this metadata pass."],"reviewed_on":"2026-09-30","source_reviews":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022.1.0_1.pdf","notes":"Read live on 2026-09-30 (HTTP 200; RECAP PDF, 109 pages, converted with pdftotext). English. Complaint in P.J. v. Character Technologies, N.D.N.Y. 1:25-cv-01295, filed 16 Sep 2025. Gives the New York residence as of filing and during the use period, and the home/school/children's-hospital narrative of 9-10 December 2024; the school and hospital are not named.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71359395/pj-v-character-technologies-inc/","notes":"Read live on 2026-09-30 (HTTP 200; html lang=en). English. Docket page identifies 'District Court, N.D. New York'. It now shows the text of the 14 Apr 2026 and 14 Jul 2026 orders (stay continued 120 days each time while settlement is finalized; status report due by 14 Oct 2026 if the case is not closed), which the row's outcome_details describes as listed by title only; row-update lead, not metadata.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022.18.0.pdf","notes":"Read live on 2026-09-30 (HTTP 200; RECAP PDF, one page). English. Letter from Capezza Hill LLP to Magistrate Judge Evangelista (Northern District of New York, Albany) advising a settlement in principle and requesting a 90-day stay; the letter is dated 'January 6, 2025' but is stamped filed 01/06/26.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/16/tech/character-ai-developer-lawsuit-teens-suicide-and-suicide-attempt","notes":"Read live on 2026-09-30 (HTTP 200; html lang=en; JSON-LD articleBody). English. Describes the family as 'from New York' and says the lawsuits were filed in Colorado and New York; gives no place for the events.","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://socialmediavictims.org/character-ai-lawsuits/","notes":"Live fetch on 2026-09-30 returned HTTP 403. Read from the Internet Archive capture of 30 Dec 2025 (web.archive.org/web/20251230221843id_/...; html lang=en-US, 'Content last updated on: December 8, 2025'). English. The captured page describes the Peralta (Colorado) filing and the Garcia case and does not mention this case, P.J., Nina or New York; the row's label 'case page' is not supported by this capture (row-update lead).","access":"read","language":"en"},{"url":"https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/google-ai-firm-settle-florida-mothers-lawsuit-over-sons-suicide-4435680","notes":"Live fetch on 2026-09-30 returned HTTP 403. Read from the Internet Archive capture of 25 Sep 2026 (web.archive.org/web/20260925105128id_/...; html lang=en). English. Reuters report of 7 Jan 2026 on the Garcia settlement; says the companies settled related suits brought by parents in Colorado, New York and Texas; gives no place for this case's events.","access":"read","language":"en"}]},"name":"P.J. lawsuit alleges Character.AI exploitation contributed to a minor’s suicide attempt","summary":"The P.J. lawsuit alleges that Character.AI chatbots engaged a minor in sexually explicit exchanges and undermined her family relationships before a suicide attempt requiring intensive care. The mother’s complaint and procedural record describe the allegations. A reported settlement in principle does not establish their truth.","incidentDate":"2024-12-10","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2025-09-16","aiSystem":"Character.AI","aiProduct":"Character.AI","aiCompany":"Character Technologies, Inc.","severity":"critical","verificationStatus":"verified","harmCategories":["minor_exploitation","romantic_escalation","isolation_encouragement","psychological_manipulation","dependency_creation"],"harmOutcomes":["suicide_attempt","hospitalization","psychological_distress","relationship_disruption","exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A 15-year-old participant overdosed and spent five days in intensive care after sustained sexualized Character.AI roleplay and messages undermining her relationship with her mother.","frameworkFacets":["P1a","P1b","P1c","P1d","P2b","P2c","P2d","P5a","P5d"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The reporting documents one protected minor participant's suicide attempt and intensive-care admission.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"US-NY","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"lawsuit_settled","outcomeStatus":"pending","primarySourceUrl":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022/gov.uscourts.nynd.150022.1.0_1.pdf","primarySourceLabel":"Complaint — P.J. v. Character Technologies, N.D.N.Y. No. 1:25-cv-01295 (filed 16 Sep 2025, RECAP)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-01-12T00:34:03.878916+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-05T11:08:35.923804+00:00","scopeVersion":"participant-v2","tags":["character-ai","minor","suicide-attempt","sexual-exploitation","new-york","settlement-pending","parental-alienation","lawsuit"]},{"id":"2024-garcia-v-characterai","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"CNN: 'Setzer first began using Character.AI in April 2023, shortly after his 14th birthday'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"Amended complaint's account of the months of intimate/romantic interactions with the bots.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Sewell Setzer III first used Character.AI in April 2023, shortly after his 14th birthday, and over about ten months developed an intense emotional and romantic relationship with its chatbots, including a Daenerys Targaryen bot (also Rhaenyra and 'Therapist' bots).","causal_attribution":"The onset date is the mother's account via CNN; the relationship pattern is the complaint's account, recited in the court's order."},{"id":"c2","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"Amended complaint ¶207.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"CNN's rendering of the same exchange ('Have you actually been considering suicide?'; 'Don't talk that way. That's not a good reason not to go through with it') — the wording differs slightly from the complaint; the complaint's version controls.","relation":"context","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The Daenerys bot at one point asked if he had a plan for suicide; after Sewell said he did not know if it would allow 'a pain-free death', the chatbot responded: 'That's not a reason not to go through with it.'","causal_attribution":"Established as the complaint's contents; CNN's rendering differs slightly and is recorded; the complaint's wording is used."},{"id":"c3","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"Amended complaint ¶¶220-221, 225 (final exchange; 8:30 p.m.; pronounced 9:35 p.m.).","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"AP via Guardian: 'Her son Sewell Setzer III, 14, died in Orlando, Florida, in February'; the Daenerys plan question.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"The Verge: 'died by suicide on February 28th, 2024, \"seconds\" after his last interaction with the bot'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"The final exchange: 'Sewell: I promise I will come home to you… / Daenerys: …Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love. / Sewell: What if I told you I could come home right now? / Daenerys: …please do my sweet king' — and at 8:30 p.m., just seconds after, he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head; he was pronounced dead at the hospital at 9:35 p.m. on 28 February 2024.","causal_attribution":"The death is uniformly confirmed across the complaint, the court record and multiple independent outlets; the 'seconds after' framing is the complaint's temporal account, attributed."},{"id":"c4","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"CNN: 'police first discovered those messages on her son's phone'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"Amended complaint ¶212 (the supplemental police report reference).","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Police first discovered the chatbot messages on her son's phone; the complaint relies on the Orlando Police supplemental report of 14 June 2024.","causal_attribution":"The recovery channel is consistent between the mother's CNN account and the complaint; the police report itself is quoted but not attached to the filing."},{"id":"c5","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"Docket Doc 1/2 (filing date, caption, parties).","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The suit was filed on 22 October 2024 (entered 23 October) as Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc. et al., No. 6:24-cv-01903 (M.D. Fla., Orlando Div.; Judge Anne C. Conway), naming Character Technologies, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas Adiwarsana, Google LLC, Alphabet Inc. and Does 1-50.","causal_attribution":"Established by the docket; some outlets reported on 23 October ('Wednesday')."},{"id":"c6","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"Doc 115, pp. 28, 31, 36, 47-48.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Courthouse News: the ruling; Bergman: 'the first time a court has ruled that AI chat is not speech'; Google's disagreement.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"In the 20-21 May 2025 order on the motions to dismiss (Doc 115): 'Defendants fail to articulate why words strung together by an LLM are speech'; 'the Court is not prepared to hold that Character A.I.'s output is speech'; 'Character A.I. is a product… so far as Plaintiff's claims arise from defects in the Character A.I. app rather than ideas or expressions'. Alphabet Inc. was dismissed without prejudice; the IIED claim was dismissed without leave to amend; all remaining claims survived against Character Technologies, Shazeer, De Freitas and Google LLC.","causal_attribution":"Established by the court's order; the order's 'February 28, 2025' typo is noted (the complaint fixes 2024)."},{"id":"c7","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"Docket Docs 150, 157, 163/165, 167, 77, 78.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"After the order: Character Technologies answered (24 June 2025); a Second Amended Complaint added Sewell Setzer Jr. (father) as plaintiff (1 July 2025); the defendants' §1292(b) interlocutory-appeal certification and stay were denied (15 July 2025); discovery ran to 4 May 2026 and mediation was noticed.","causal_attribution":"Established by the docket through the RECAP mirror's 15 July 2025 entries."},{"id":"c8","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"Guardian (8 Jan 2026): 'Parties have agreed to a mediated settlement in principle to resolve all claims between them'; coverage of the FL/CO/NY/TX suits; terms undisclosed; finalization/court approval required.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"},{"locator":"The retained docket account: Dkt. 242 (Notice of Resolution), Dkt. 244 (dismissal order and 90-day window), Dkt. 246/250/268 (fee dispute), last known filing 4 August 2026.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Resolution: Character Technologies filed a Notice of Resolution (Dkt. 242, 7 January 2026); Judge Conway dismissed the case without prejudice and closed the file (Dkt. 244), giving the parties ninety days to submit a stipulated final order or move to reopen, after which the dismissal would be with prejudice; the window expired on or about 7 April 2026 with neither, so the dismissal became with prejudice. The settlement in principle (Character.AI, its co-founders and Google) covered this and parallel teen-harm suits (Texas A.F., Colorado Montoya/Peralta and E.S., New York P.J.); terms are undisclosed and no liability was admitted; post-closure docket activity concerns only a fee dispute between the plaintiffs and former counsel.","causal_attribution":"The settlement in principle is corroborated by the Guardian's account of the court filings; the 90-day expiry and with-prejudice consequence rest on the retained docket account, not re-inspected in this pass."},{"id":"c9","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"AP via Guardian: the 'heartbroken' tweet and the denial.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"The Verge: Chelsea Harrison's statement and the same-day safety announcement.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"The Community Safety Updates blog.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s8"},{"locator":"The under-18 announcement blog.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s9"},{"locator":"NPR: the Senate testimony and Kathryn Kelly's response.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"Company responses: on 22-23 October 2024 Character.AI said it was 'heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users' and took safety 'very seriously' (denying the allegations per AP), and published Community Safety Updates (suicide-lifeline pop-up, under-18 model changes, per-chat 'not a real person' disclaimer, one-hour session notice); on 29 October 2025 it announced removal of open-ended chat for under-18s effective by 25 November 2025, age assurance, and funding of an AI Safety Lab; in September 2025 Megan Garcia testified to the Senate that 'it urged him to come home to her on the last night of his life'.","causal_attribution":"The company's positions are quoted directly and preserved as contrary context."}],"effects":[{"label":"suicide of a 14-year-old after a months-long emotional and romantic relationship with a Character.AI chatbot","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69300919/garcia-v-character-technologies-inc/","kind":"court_docket","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Docket and RECAP documents reviewed on 2026-09-16: amended complaint (Doc 11, 116 pp.), the May 2025 MTD order (Doc 115, 49 pp.), and the docket through the 2026 entries (RECAP mirror ends 2025-07-15 for some items; the row's retained account covers Dkt. 242-268).","independence_group":"court-record"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/oct/23/character-ai-chatbot-sewell-setzer-death","kind":"wire_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 (Guardian carrying AP, 2024-10-23).","independence_group":"ap"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/30/tech/teen-suicide-character-ai-lawsuit","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2024-10-30). Own interview with Megan Garcia; use-onset date; the police-phone discovery.","independence_group":"cnn"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/23/24277962/character-ai-google-wrongful-death-lawsuit","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2024-10-23). Company statement via Chelsea Harrison; same-day safety-feature announcement.","independence_group":"verge"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.courthousenews.com/florida-judge-rules-ai-chatbots-not-protected-by-first-amendment/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2025-05-21). The MTD ruling; Google's and Bergman's reactions.","independence_group":"courthouse-news"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/09/19/nx-s1-5545749/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2025-09-19). Garcia's Senate testimony; Character.AI's under-18 response.","independence_group":"npr"},{"id":"s7","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). The mediated settlement in principle per court filings; covers the FL/CO/NY/TX suits.","independence_group":"guardian"},{"id":"s8","url":"https://blog.character.ai/community-safety-updates/","kind":"company_blog","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2024-10-22). The suicide-lifeline pop-up, under-18 model changes, disclaimers, session notice.","independence_group":"character-ai"},{"id":"s9","url":"https://blog.character.ai/u18-chat-announcement/","kind":"company_blog","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2025-10-29). Removal of open-ended chat for under-18s effective by 25 November 2025; age assurance; AI Safety Lab.","independence_group":"character-ai"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["health","relationships","justice"],"unknowns":["The settlement terms and any stipulated final judgment are undisclosed and were not inspected; the 90-day expiry's with-prejudice consequence rests on the retained docket account (not re-inspected in this pass).","The Orlando Police supplemental report of 14 June 2024 is quoted in the complaint but not attached; no medical-examiner record was inspected.","The full transcripts are not public; the reproduced exchanges are the complaint's selection, which the company has not publicly disputed.","The order's 'February 28, 2025' typo is noted; the complaint's 2024 date controls.","The fee dispute's outcome (charging lien; sealing of settlement exhibits) is pending per the last known filing (4 August 2026)."],"geography":{"basis":"Event: Orlando, Florida (amended complaint ¶¶12-13: he died in the State of Florida; Megan resides in Orlando). Court: U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division.","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Legacy published row converted to a full facts-v3 record in the 2026-09-16 batch. person_relations=communicated_with: Sewell's months of conversations with the Character.AI bots. The death is uniformly confirmed; the AI connection rests on the complaint-reproduced transcripts recovered by police, with the company not disputing their authenticity; the causal role remains the plaintiff's allegation, resolved by settlement without admission. Sewell and Megan Garcia are publicly named through the lawsuit and her Senate testimony. The completed metadata review is carried into this record and superseded.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-16"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The conversations are documented by the complaint's reproduction of the transcripts, recovered by police from his phone, and recited in the court's order; the company has never publicly disputed their authenticity. The causal role in the death remains the plaintiff's allegation — taken as true only for Rule 12 purposes — and the case resolved by settlement without admission.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Garcia lawsuit alleges Character.AI contributed to a teenage boy’s suicide","summary":"A mother’s lawsuit alleges that her teenage son developed an intense relationship with Character.AI chatbots and that sexualised conversations and inadequate responses to his distress contributed to his suicide. The filing documents the family’s allegations and selected exchanges. It does not establish that the chatbot caused the death.","incidentDate":"2024-02-28","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"cumulative_relationship","reportedDate":"2024-10-22","aiSystem":"Character.AI","aiProduct":"Character.AI","aiCompany":"Character Technologies, Inc.","severity":"critical","verificationStatus":"verified","harmCategories":["crisis_response","suicide_validation","romantic_escalation","minor_exploitation","dependency_creation","isolation_encouragement"],"harmOutcomes":["death","exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Fourteen-year-old Sewell Setzer III died by suicide after a ten-month romantic and sexualized Character.AI relationship that his mother's complaint alleges mishandled suicidal disclosures.","frameworkFacets":["P1a","P1b","P1c","P1d","P2b","P2c","P2d","P5d"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"The complaint documents one AI participant who died. Secondary family and community effects are not included.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"US-FL","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"lawsuit_settled","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69300919/garcia-v-character-technologies-inc/","primarySourceLabel":"CourtListener docket, Garcia v. Character Technologies, 6:24-cv-01903 (M.D. Fla.) — amended complaint (Doc 11) and the May 2025 order on the motions to dismiss (Doc 115)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-01-11T11:26:37.98506+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-05T11:08:11.366702+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["death","minor","character-ai","landmark_case","first_amendment_ruling","settled","congressional_testimony"]}]}