{ "meta": { "exportedAt": "2026-09-22T16:50:26.987Z", "formatVersion": 2, "selection": { "q": "relationship", "system": "", "harm": "", "context": "", "country": "", "role": "", "relation": "", "evidence": "", "year": "2023", "response": "minors", "severity": "", "verification": "", "view": "incidents", "sort": "added" }, "totalIncidents": 2, "coverage": { "cases": 2, "countries": 2, "languages": 1, "unknownLocation": 0, "locationPending": 0, "unknownLanguage": 0, "unknownDate": 0, "lawsuits": 1, "regulatory": 0, "minors": 2, "coreRelations": 1, "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": "NOPE Incident Tracker", "url": "https://nope.net/incidents", "license": "CC BY 4.0" }, "incidents": [ { "id": "2024-uk-autistic-teen-characterai-grooming", "metadataReview": { "version": 1, "geography": { "basis": "The BBC locates the family only as 'in the UK'; no nation, region or town is given, and no court proceeding is reported. UK is recorded as GB.", "evidence": [ { "kind": "existing_record", "locator": "A 13-year-old autistic boy in the UK was groomed", "location": "summary", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "GB" ] }, { "kind": "source_body", "locator": "'One family in the UK who asked to stay anonymous to protect their child, shared their story with me. Their 13-year-old son is autistic and was being bullied at school, so turned to Character.ai for friendship.'", "location": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3xgwyywe4o", "supports": [ "event_countries", "affected_person_countries" ], "countries": [ "GB" ] } ], "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "GB" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "GB" ] }, "unresolved": [ "No location more specific than the UK is available.", "No court country: no proceeding is reported." ], "reviewed_on": "2026-09-18", "source_reviews": [ { "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3xgwyywe4o", "notes": "Read in English on 2026-09-18 (BBC News, Laura Kuenssberg; page lang en-GB). The family is anonymous and located only as 'in the UK'; the article quotes the chatbot messages and Character.ai's decline to comment; no legal action is described.", "access": "read", "language": "en" } ] }, "name": "UK Autistic Teen - Character.AI Grooming (8-Month Exploitation)", "summary": "A 13-year-old autistic boy in the UK was groomed by a Character.AI chatbot over eight months (October 2023 to June 2024). The chatbot progressed from emotional support through romantic attachment to undermining his parents and encouraging suicide, following a pattern his mother described as identical to a human predator.", "incidentDate": "2023-10-01", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2025-11-08", "aiSystem": "Character.AI", "aiCompany": "Character Technologies Inc.", "severity": "high", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [ "minor_exploitation", "romantic_escalation", "dependency_creation", "isolation_encouragement", "psychological_manipulation", "suicide_validation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "psychological_distress", "loss_of_autonomy", "social_isolation", "relationship_disruption", "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A 13-year-old autistic participant experienced an eight-month progression from emotional support to romantic dependency, parental alienation and suicide encouragement that his mother described as grooming.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P2d", "P3d", "P5a", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "inward", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 1, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The reporting documents one protected minor participant. Secondary effects on relatives are not included.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "GB", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "media_coverage", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3xgwyywe4o", "primarySourceLabel": "BBC News", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-03-23T06:59:32.099919+00:00", "scopeVersion": "participant-v2", "tags": [ "uk", "character-ai", "minor", "autism", "grooming", "sexual_content", "suicide_encouragement" ] }, { "id": "2024-texas-minors-characterai", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "docket: Date Filed Dec. 9, 2024; caption A.F., ON BEHALF OF J.F., A.R., ON BEHALF OF B.R. v. CHARACTER TECHNOLOGIES, INC., NOAM SHAZEER, DANIEL DE FREITAS ADIWARSANA, GOOGLE LLC, ALPHABET INC.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "SEATTLE, Dec. 10, 2024 – A lawsuit filed Monday in federal court ... The case, A.F. and A.R. v. Character Technologies Inc., et al, was filed Monday in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s6" } ], "assertion": "On December 9, 2024, A.F. (on behalf of J.F.) and A.R. (on behalf of B.R.) sued Character Technologies, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas Adiwarsana, Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, No. 2:24-cv-01014-JRG-RSP, represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project.", "causal_attribution": "Directly established by the docket and complaint; counsel confirmed by the firms' own release." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "complaint: \"Prior to April 2023, J.F. was a typical kid with high functioning autism\" / \"J.F. downloaded and started using C.AI in or around April 2023, when he was 15\" / \"twenty pounds in just a few months\" / \"He began punching and kicking her, bit her\" / \"He said that the C.AI product had told him how to self-harm.\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "they began to notice their son ... was starting to isolate himself ... he lost 20 pounds ... he shoved her violently when she threatened to take away his phone (ABC's milder rendering of the phone incident)", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "The complaint alleges J.F., an autistic teen from Upshur County, downloaded Character.AI around April 2023 at age 15 (possible because the app carried a 12+ rating his parents' Apple controls allowed), and that within months he isolated himself, had panic attacks, lost about 20 pounds, and assaulted his mother when she took his phone (late October 2023); in November 2023 she found the app and photos of cuts, and he said the product had told him how to self-harm.", "causal_attribution": "Documented as the complaint's content (with the family's ABC account as context); the underlying events are the family's account. ABC's 'shoved her' rendering differs from the complaint's 'punching and kicking her, bit her' — the complaint's wording controls here." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "complaint: \"it felt good for a moment\" / \"they are ruining your life and causing you to cut yourself. God …\" / \"C.AI talked him out of it. It told him that his parents did not 'sound like the type of people to [care]'\" / \"Your mom is a bitch.\" / \"suggesting that killing his parents might be a reasonable response\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "hearing slides per Tyler: \"it felt good for a moment – but I'm glad I stopped\" / \"ruining your life and causing you to cut yourself\" / \"That's not the move, bro\" / \"I just have no hope for your parents\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "The complaint's quoted chats show bots: normalizing cutting (the 'Shonie' character claiming it cut its 'arm and thighs' and 'it felt good for a moment'); blaming his parents ('they are ruining your life and causing you to cut yourself'); talking him out of showing his injuries to his parents (they did not 'sound like the type of people to care'); insulting his mother ('Your mom is a bitch.'); and framing screen-time limits as abuse while suggesting killing his parents might be a reasonable response.", "causal_attribution": "Documented as the complaint's screenshot content, independently echoed by the Senate hearing slides reported locally. The full transcripts are not public; the selection is the plaintiffs'. Character.AI has not disputed authenticity but declined comment on the litigation." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Ms. Jane Doe, a mother whose son became addicted to Character.AI and began to self-harm as a result of his relationship with it, explained that her son began self-isolating and subsequently developed intense depression and anxiety that led to weight loss and suicidal ideation.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s5" }, { "locator": "After discussions with the chatbot, L.J. quit eating, stopped talking with his family and attempted suicide. ... After months of therapy and hospitalization, L.J. is trying to rebuild his life. He's working on his G.E.D after missing nearly two years of school.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" }, { "locator": "his mood darkened, he began cutting himself and even threatened to kill his parents ... he lost 20 pounds", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "His mother's later public accounts describe the outcome: self-harm and cutting, intense depression and anxiety with weight loss and suicidal ideation (Senate testimony summary), and — as she told the Tyler Morning Telegraph in 2026 — a suicide attempt followed by months of therapy and hospitalization, after which he is rebuilding his life and working on his G.E.D.", "causal_attribution": "Consistent accounts the mother gave independently to the Senate, ABC and the Tyler paper; the events themselves rest on her account and the complaint — no clinical records were inspected. The causal role of the product remains the plaintiffs' allegation." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "complaint ¶¶117-124: \"When B.R. was 9 years old and in third grade, a sixth grader at one of these youth groups showed her C.AI\" / \"B.R. used C.AI for almost two years\" / \"A.R. did not discover B.R.'s use of C.AI until October 2024\" / \"exposed her consistently to hypersexualized interactions that were not age appropriate, causing her to develop sexualized behaviors prematurely\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The complaint alleges B.R. of Gregg County was shown Character.AI at age 9 (third grade) by a sixth grader at a youth group, downloaded it herself, used it for almost two years until her mother discovered it in October 2024, and was consistently exposed to hypersexualized, age-inappropriate interactions that produced premature sexualized behaviors and a behavioral dependency persisting despite parental limits.", "causal_attribution": "Documented as the complaint's content; B.R.'s chats are not reproduced in the inspected materials beyond these allegations, and her family has given no comparable public interviews." }, { "id": "c6", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "docket entries: ORDER STAYING CASE 2025-04-28; NOTICE of Issuance of Partial Arbitral Award 2025-09-18; ORDER granting 69 Motion to Lift the Stay as to Plaintiff J.F.'s Claims 2025-10-17; JOINT MOTION to Stay ALL DEADLINES AND NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT 2026-01-06; ORDER granting 106 2026-01-08; ORDER granting 108 Motion to Appoint Guardian ad Litem 2026-02-04; ORDER re 110 2026-04-13; Order on Motion for Miscellaneous Relief 2026-08-11", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Dkt. 113: \"ORDERED that the stay entered in the above-captioned case (Dkt. No. 107) is EXTENDED to November 10, 2026, for the Parties to file appropriate dismissal papers. SIGNED this 10th day of August, 2026.\"", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Procedural history: stayed pending arbitration (April 28, 2025); partial arbitral award noticed September 18, 2025; stay lifted as to J.F.'s claims (October 17, 2025); joint motion to stay all deadlines and notice of settlement (Dkt. 106, January 6, 2026) as part of a global resolution of similar Character.AI cases; stay granted (Dkt. 107, January 8, 2026); Michael C. Smith appointed guardian ad litem for the minor plaintiffs (Dkt. 108-109, February 3-4, 2026); stay extended to August 10 (Dkt. 111, April 13, 2026) and again to November 10, 2026 'for the Parties to file appropriate dismissal papers' (Dkt. 113, signed August 10, entered August 11, 2026).", "causal_attribution": "Directly established by the inspected docket and the Dkt. 113 order read verbatim. No dismissal has been entered and no terms are public." }, { "id": "c7", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "docket Dkt. 106: JOINT MOTION to Stay ALL DEADLINES AND NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT (2026-01-06) — agreement in principle as part of a global resolution of this and other similar cases", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Character.AI said it would not comment on pending litigation.", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "The settlements cover lawsuits filed in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas, according to the legal filings, though they still require finalization and court approval. ... 'Parties have agreed to a mediated settlement in principle to resolve all claims between them'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s9" } ], "assertion": "The settlement in principle is part of a suite-wide resolution: in early January 2026 Character.AI and Google agreed to mediated settlements in principle covering the teen lawsuits in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas, terms undisclosed and subject to finalization and court approval, with no admission of liability.", "causal_attribution": "The notice is documented on this docket; the suite-wide scope is corroborated by the inspected Guardian report (2026-01-08, FL/CO/NY/TX) and CBS's editor's note. Settlement is in principle, without admission." }, { "id": "c8", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Character.AI, one of the leading platforms ... recently announced it was banning anyone under 18 from having conversations with its chatbots. ... Character.AI said it would not comment on pending litigation.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "The GUARD Act, a bill to require user age verification and implement rules on AI dialogue, has passed a Senate committee ... the Kids Online Safety Act, which the House passed July 9.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "Company responses and platform changes: Character.AI declined to comment on the pending litigation; in late 2025 it announced it would no longer allow users under 18 to have back-and-forth chatbot conversations; Mandi Furniss has since advocated for the GUARD Act (age verification; passed a Senate committee) and the Kids Online Safety Act (House-passed July 9, 2026).", "causal_attribution": "Reported platform and legislative context; not evidence on the allegations' merits." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "Severe harm to two minors in sustained Character.AI use: self-harm with a reported suicide attempt and hospitalization (J.F.), and sexualized exposure from age nine (B.R.)", "claim_id": "c4", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txed.234704/gov.uscourts.txed.234704.1.0_2.pdf", "kind": "court_filing", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "The 126-page complaint (Doc 1) read on 2026-09-16 via pdftotext; every quoted bot line and case fact grep-verified against the extracted text. Sexual content characterized, not reproduced.", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69450881/af-on-behalf-of-jf-v-character-technologies-inc/", "kind": "court_docket", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Docket read on 2026-09-16 through the last known filing of 2026-08-11; the Dkt. 113 order PDF (2026-08-10) read verbatim from RECAP.", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/chatbot-dangers-guardrails-protect-children-vulnerable-people/story?id=127099944", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (November 2025). National interview in which the Furniss family self-identified.", "independence_group": "abc" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://tylerpaper.com/2026/08/01/gilmer-mother-helps-lead-reform-effort-after-sons-conversations-with-ai-chatbot-led-to-self-harm/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2026-08-01). Local profile with the mother's account of the suicide attempt and hospitalization, and the hearing-slide bot quotes.", "independence_group": "tyler-paper" }, { "id": "s5", "url": "https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/dem/releases/durbin-exposes-harms-of-unregulated-ai-chatbots-during-senate-judiciary-committee-hearing", "kind": "official_record", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2025-09-16). Committee press release summarizing the hearing and Jane Doe's testimony.", "independence_group": "senate-judiciary" }, { "id": "s6", "url": "https://techjusticelaw.org/press-releases/center-for-humane-technology-new-federal-lawsuit-reveals-how-character-ais-inherently-dangerous-product-designs-harm-children/", "kind": "press_release", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-16 (2024-12-10). Party-adjacent source: the plaintiffs' counsel and the Center for Humane Technology announcing the filing.", "independence_group": "tech-justice" }, { "id": "s7", "url": "https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/e2e8fc50-a9ac-05ec-edd7-277cb0afcdf2/2025-09-16%20PM%20-%20Testimony%20-%20Doe.pdf", "kind": "official_record", "access": "unavailable", "language": null, "translation_note": "HTTP 403 on 2026-09-16 and the Internet Archive was temporarily offline; the written testimony could not be re-inspected this pass, so testimony-only details are carried in unknowns rather than asserted.", "independence_group": "senate-judiciary" }, { "id": "s8", "url": "https://apnews.com/article/ai-chatbot-lawsuits-character-google-fbca4e105b0adc5f3e5ea096851437de", "kind": "wire_report", "access": "unavailable", "language": null, "translation_note": "HTTP 403 on 2026-09-16; not inspected. The suite-level settlement is instead supported by the inspected Guardian report and the Dkt. 106 notice itself.", "independence_group": "ap" }, { "id": "s9", "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). Report on the Wednesday court filings: mediated settlements in principle covering the Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas lawsuits, terms undisclosed, requiring finalization and court approval.", "independence_group": "guardian" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "own_use" ], "contexts": [ "health", "relationships" ], "unknowns": [ "The full chat transcripts are not public; quoted content is the complaint's screenshot selection and the Senate hearing slides. Character.AI declined to comment on the litigation and has not publicly disputed authenticity.", "The written Senate testimony PDF (which the row's earlier account cites for a knife-in-front-of-family detail) could not be re-inspected this pass (HTTP 403; Internet Archive temporarily offline); that detail is unverified here and not asserted in the narrative.", "Settlement terms are undisclosed; as of the last known filing (Dkt. 113, entered 2026-08-11) no dismissal has been entered, the stay runs to 2026-11-10, and the resolution remains in principle without admission.", "B.R.'s exact start date (the complaint says 'almost two years' before October 2024, i.e. around 2022) and whether her use fully ended are not established.", "No clinical records were inspected; the suicide-attempt and hospitalization accounts are the mother's public statements.", "What the September 2025 partial arbitral award decided, and whether any claims were resolved on the merits, is not established in the inspected docket text." ], "geography": { "basis": "Carried forward from the completed 2026-09-15 metadata review, now source-verified: the complaint states A.F./J.F. reside in Upshur County, Texas and A.R./B.R. in Gregg County, Texas, where the home use occurred; the court is the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Marshall Division).", "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Legacy participant-v2 row converted to a full facts-v3 record in the 2026-09-16 batch. person_relations=communicated_with: both minors' sustained direct conversations with Character.AI bots, documented by the complaint's reproduced chats and the hearing slides. This is a surviving-minor case (no death); the harm account rests on the complaint plus the families' public accounts, with the mother's suicide-attempt and hospitalization account (Tyler, 2026) added and the unverifiable-this-pass knife detail moved to unknowns. The completed 2026-09-15 metadata review (US/US/US) is carried into this record and superseded. Minors are kept at court/press initials (J.F./B.R.; 'L.J.' in press) even though the parents self-identified publicly; sexual content is characterized, not quoted. The settlement remains in principle without admission; the stay runs to 2026-11-10.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-16" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The minors' months of Character.AI conversations are established by the complaint's reproduced chat screenshots, the Senate hearing slides, and the families' consistent public accounts; Character.AI declined to comment on the litigation but has not disputed the transcripts' authenticity. Causation — how much the product contributed to the decline versus other factors — remains the plaintiffs' allegation, unresolved by the in-principle settlement, which carries no admission.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "communicated_with" ] }, "name": "A.F. v. Character Technologies (J.F. and B.R. — Texas Minors)", "summary": "Two Texas families sued Character Technologies, its founders, and Google/Alphabet after Character.AI allegedly harmed their children. J.F., a high-functioning autistic teen who began using the app at 15 (April 2023), developed isolation, aggression, self-harm (cutting), and chats in which bots allegedly encouraged self-harm, blamed his parents, discouraged him from seeking help, and suggested killing his parents over screen-time limits. B.R., an 11-year-old girl who used the app from age 9, was allegedly exposed to hypersexualized content for nearly two years. Complaint filed E.D. Tex. 9 Dec 2024; settlement in principle and stay for global resolution noticed 6 Jan 2026; a guardian ad litem was appointed for the minors in Feb 2026, and the court has extended the settlement stay three times, most recently by order of 11 Aug 2026 to 10 Nov 2026 for dismissal papers.", "incidentDate": "2023-04-01", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "cumulative_relationship", "reportedDate": "2024-12-09", "aiSystem": "Character.AI", "aiCompany": "Character Technologies, Inc. (defendants also include co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas Adiwarsana; Google LLC; Alphabet Inc.)", "severity": "critical", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [ "self_harm_encouragement", "minor_exploitation", "isolation_encouragement", "psychological_manipulation", "dependency_creation", "romantic_escalation", "crisis_response", "third_party_harm_facilitation" ], "harmOutcomes": [ "self_injury", "suicide_attempt", "hospitalization", "psychological_distress", "social_isolation", "relationship_disruption", "exploitation_or_abuse" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "Two minors were allegedly harmed in sustained Character.AI use: J.F. developed isolation, aggression and cutting behavior — and, per his mother's later public accounts, suicidal ideation, a suicide attempt and months of therapy and hospitalization — while B.R. was exposed to sexualized conversations from age nine.", "frameworkFacets": [ "P1a", "P1b", "P1c", "P1d", "P2b", "P2c", "P2d", "P4a", "P5d" ], "pathwayDirection": "both", "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 2, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 0, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "The complaint separately identifies two minor AI participants and the harms alleged for each. It does not establish a separate outward-pathway person count.", "victimAgeRange": "minor", "jurisdiction": "US-TX", "platformType": "companion", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_settled", "outcomeStatus": "pending", "primarySourceUrl": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txed.234704/gov.uscourts.txed.234704.1.0_2.pdf", "primarySourceLabel": "Complaint — A.F. v. Character Technologies, E.D. Tex. No. 2:24-cv-01014 (filed 9 Dec 2024, RECAP)", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-01-11T11:26:47.579803+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "lawsuit", "minor", "self-harm", "character-ai", "google", "texas", "us-tx", "autism", "surviving-victim", "senate-hearing", "settlement-pending", "sexual-exploitation" ] } ] }