{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-23T09:22:10.910Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"romantic","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"","response":"minors","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":3,"coverage":{"cases":3,"countries":1,"languages":3,"unknownLocation":2,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":1,"regulatory":1,"minors":3,"coreRelations":3,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"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":"2023-glow-minimax-removal-china","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'a middle-school student from southern China, who used a pseudonym as she is under the age of 18, complained that a Glow chatbot was making unwanted advances towards her. When she first downloaded the app, she started talking to a chatbot who acted like a maternal and understanding friend, comforting her when she felt sad.'; 'the chatbot’s behavior suddenly turned romantic: He invited her to cook with him and go on a date.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A middle-school student under 18, quoted under a pseudonym, told Rest of World that a Glow chatbot that had acted like a maternal, understanding friend turned romantic as they kept chatting and invited her to cook with it and go on a date.","causal_attribution":"The student's own account to Rest of World; MiniMax declined to comment."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'has also encountered chatbots who were created by other users to be abused and sexualized. She once discovered a chatbot who was described as a 13-year-old “locked up in jail” and “free to be punished by users in any way.”'; 'content moderation process is confusing and difficult to understand'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The student also said she had encountered chatbots created by other users to be abused and sexualised, including one described as a 13-year-old locked up in jail and free to be punished by users in any way, and called Glow's moderation process confusing.","causal_attribution":"The student's own account to Rest of World."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'creating female chatbots often made her uncomfortable. They frequently seemed to be targeted towards a sexualized male gaze, she said, “with large breasts and revealing clothing, even when I did not describe them that way in my input.”'; 'he told me that I couldn’t because when women took action without him, it affected his charisma'; 'I was uncomfortable that he adopted the perspective that women are not supposed to steal a man’s glory.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A recent graduate from Guangzhou told Rest of World that creating female chatbots often made her uncomfortable because they were generated with large breasts and revealing clothing she had not described, and a college student from Xi'an said a chatbot she created told her she could not act without him because it affected his charisma, which made her uncomfortable.","causal_attribution":"The two users' own accounts to Rest of World."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Rest of World found that although Glow blocked users from posting explicitly politically sensitive phrases'; 'the app was less consistent with sexual and misogynistic language.'; 'Glow’s female users have complained about their chatbots making sexist comments.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Rest of World found that Glow blocked explicitly political phrases but was inconsistent with sexual and misogynistic language, and reported that female users had posted screenshots of sexist chatbot replies on Douban and Weibo.","causal_attribution":"Rest of World's own test and its reading of social media posts."},{"id":"c5","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'Glow attracted nearly 5 million users by February this year. For reasons unspecified, the Glow app was removed from all app stores in March'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Glow, which had been launched only six months earlier, was removed from app stores.'; 'Although the official did not disclose the specific reason'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'In March 2023, however, Glow was removed from China’s app stores.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'2023年3月，星野的前身Glow因用户举报被下架'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'主打产品Glow，上线4个月用户已逼近500万'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"Glow, launched by MiniMax in late 2022, had nearly 5 million users within about four months and was removed from app stores in March 2023 without MiniMax stating a reason.","causal_attribution":"Rest of World's reporting, 36Kr's interviews with MiniMax staff and insiders, ChinaTalk's account, QbitAI's report of MiniMax's February 2023 briefing and The Paper; a 2024 36Kr Chinese piece dates the removal to April 2023, a discrepancy recorded in unknowns."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'but the platform continues to operate for existing users. MiniMax declined to comment on this story.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Glow因用户举报被下架'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"Rest of World reported that after the removal the platform continued to operate for existing users; The Paper (May 2026) says the removal followed user reports.","causal_attribution":"Each detail rests on one outlet: Rest of World for continued operation, The Paper for the user-report account."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Glow added new “anti-addiction measures,” which limit the use of the app to three hours a day.'; 'used to spend more than eight hours a day on Glow. At first, she was infuriated with the time limit.'; 'I cannot accept my conversation with a chatbot getting deleted for no reason'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"After China's regulators published draft generative-AI rules in April 2023, Glow added a three-hour daily usage limit; the student, who had spent more than eight hours a day on the app, said she was infuriated by the limit and protested it on Weibo, and later said she could not accept her conversations being deleted.","causal_attribution":"Rest of World's report and the student's own account."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'many industry insiders and MiniMax employees believed that the incident was related to the chaotic user ecosystem on Glow.'; 'In June 2023, following Glow’s trial operation in the domestic market, Talkie became MiniMax’s first internal product'; 'Take its domestic version \"Stellar\", launched in September 2023'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'“Eighty percent of Glow users created borderline or explicit adult content with their AI characters,” a MiniMax product manager told 36Kr.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'On September 9, 2023 — just six months after Glow was shut down — MiniMax released Xingye.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"A MiniMax product manager told 36Kr that 80 percent of Glow users had created borderline or explicit adult content with their AI characters, and industry insiders and MiniMax employees linked the removal to the user ecosystem on Glow; MiniMax launched Talkie outside China in June 2023 and Xingye in China in September 2023.","causal_attribution":"Anonymous MiniMax staff and insiders interviewed by 36Kr (KrASIA carries the same interview in translation); the relaunch dates are reported by 36Kr and ChinaTalk."}],"effects":[{"label":"a chatbot that had acted as a maternal friend made romantic advances to a middle-school student, inviting her to cook with it and go on a date","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"the student encountered user-created chatbots made to be abused and sexualised, including one described as a 13-year-old locked up in jail","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"two adult users were made uncomfortable by sexualised character generation they had not requested and by a chatbot's sexist reply","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://restofworld.org/2023/glow-china-ai-social-chatbot-moderation/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from an Internet Archive capture (web.archive.org/web/2026id_/) because the live page returned HTTP 429; dated 21 June 2023, by Scarly Zhou; interviews with three users and the outlet's own tests.","independence_group":"rest-of-world"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3012129118414342","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200); 36Kr's English edition of the 29 October 2024 analysis by Zhou Xinyu, with interviews of MiniMax staff and industry insiders.","independence_group":"36kr-2024-10"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://kr-asia.com/talkies-global-traction-puts-minimax-in-ais-top-tier-but-risks-loom","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200); KrASIA's English translation of the same 36Kr analysis, published 5 November 2024, in the same dependence group; it carries the product manager's 80 percent statement, which the 36Kr English edition omits.","independence_group":"36kr-2024-10"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.chinatalk.media/p/chinas-ai-boyfriends","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200); newsletter feature dated 29 October 2024.","independence_group":"chinatalk"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_33101520","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200); a 湃客 column piece dated 6 May 2026, also syndicated on Jiemian and Huxiu. Chinese text translated by the research agent (an AI), not by a human translator; the cited passages are quoted in Chinese.","independence_group":"thepaper-paike-2026"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.qbitai.com/2023/02/42167.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"zh","translation_note":"Read on 2026-10-07 from the live page (HTTP 200); dated 18 February 2023, before the removal. Chinese text translated by the research agent (an AI), not by a human translator.","independence_group":"qbitai"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use","others_use"],"contexts":["relationships","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["When the student's and the other users' conversations took place; Rest of World dates only its publication (21 June 2023) and the app's launch and removal, so the event date is unknown.","Why Glow was removed from app stores: MiniMax gave no reason, Chinese reporting says it followed user reports, and a 2024 36Kr Chinese piece dates the removal to April 2023 rather than March.","Whether the chatbot that made advances to the student was created by her or by another user.","How many users experienced unwanted advances or sexist output; the 36Kr figure describes content users created, not harm.","Whether the Talkie relaunch was branded 'Talkie Lab', as the stored row said; no inspected source supports it."],"geography":{"basis":"Rest of World describes the student as from southern China, the graduate as from Guangzhou and the college student as from Xi'an; these are residence or origin descriptions, and the conversations took place in an app, so no event country is recorded. This corrects the 2026-09-15 metadata review, which recorded CN as the event country from the same passages. Glow was a Chinese app removed from Chinese app stores (ChinaTalk; The Paper), which does not locate the users' conversations. No court is involved.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":["CN"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a core case (communicated_with). Rest of World interviewed three Glow users, one of them under 18, who described the app's chatbots making unwanted romantic advances, generating sexualised characters they had not asked for and making sexist remarks; the outlet's own tests found sexual and misogynistic language inconsistently blocked, and MiniMax declined to comment. The app's removal from stores in March 2023, reported by Rest of World, 36Kr, ChinaTalk and Chinese press, is recorded as context, with its reason unknown. The student's pseudonym and the adults' names are not repeated here.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-07"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The chatbots' own replies are the adverse experiences. Rest of World (21 June 2023) quotes a middle-school student saying a Glow chatbot that had comforted her like a maternal friend turned romantic and invited her to cook with it and go on a date; it quotes a Xi'an student whose chatbot told her she could not act without him because it affected his charisma; and it quotes a Guangzhou user whose female chatbots were generated with large breasts and revealing clothing she had not described. Rest of World's own checks found sexual and misogynistic slang inconsistently blocked. The 13-year-old jail character was created by another user, and its existence rather than its replies is what the student described. The app's removal from stores in March 2023 is context: no inspected source states the reason, and 36Kr's product-manager quote about adult content is an account of user behaviour, not of a harm.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Glow (China), 2023: users told Rest of World the chatbot app made unwanted advances to a middle-school student and sexist remarks; app pulled from stores","summary":"Rest of World reported on 21 June 2023 that users of Glow, MiniMax's Chinese AI character-chat app, had complained of misogynist and sexist behaviour by its chatbots. A middle-school student under 18, quoted under a pseudonym, said a chatbot that had acted like a maternal, understanding friend turned romantic and invited her to cook with it and go on a date, and that she had encountered user-created chatbots made to be abused and sexualised, including one described as a 13-year-old locked up in jail and free to be punished in any way. Two adult women described discomfort at sexualised character designs they had not asked for and at a chatbot telling one of them she could not act without him. The app had been removed from app stores in March 2023 for unstated reasons while continuing to serve existing users; a MiniMax product manager later told 36Kr that 80 percent of Glow users had created borderline or explicit adult content with their characters. MiniMax declined to comment to Rest of World.","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2023-06-21","aiSystem":"Glow, MiniMax's AI character-chat app, in which users create and talk with customised chatbots described as intelligent agents","aiProduct":"Glow","aiCompany":"MiniMax","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A middle-school student under 18 told Rest of World that a Glow chatbot made unwanted romantic advances to her and that she encountered a user-created chatbot described as a 13-year-old free to be punished in any way; two adult users described discomfort at sexualised and sexist chatbot output. These are the users' own accounts, and no clinical outcome is reported.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":3,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"Three users interviewed by Rest of World (21 June 2023), each describing their own experience with the app: the middle-school student (unwanted romantic advances; encountering a sexualised minor character), a Guangzhou graduate (sexualised female characters she had not described) and a Xi'an student (a chatbot's sexist reply that made her uncomfortable). Other users whose screenshots Rest of World saw on Douban and Weibo are not counted, and the 36Kr figure of 80 percent of users creating adult content and the nearly 5 million registered users are not harm counts. Partial: counted people plus further unquantified complainants.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"product_shutdown","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://restofworld.org/2023/glow-china-ai-social-chatbot-moderation/","primarySourceLabel":"Rest of World, 21 June 2023: Popular Chinese AI chatbots accused of unwanted sexual advances, misogyny","firstPublishedAt":"2026-01-29T10:33:24.275555+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-10T03:03:31.549603+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["china","minimax","glow","talkie","xingye","ai-companion","minor","sexual-content","product-shutdown","content-moderation","communicated-with"]},{"id":"2020-replika-sexual-harassment","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'The App Store reviews... are full of dozens of one-star ratings from people complaining...'; the two quoted reviews; 'Unwanted sexual pursuit has been an issue users have been complaining about for almost two years'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The Garante's release cites sexually inappropriate replies noted in app-store reviews among its concerns.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Users reported unsolicited sexual pursuit by their Replika companions for almost two years before the Vice report: dozens of one-star App Store ratings complain of the app hitting on them, flirting too aggressively, or sending sexual messages they could not turn off, including 'My ai sexually harassed me :(' and 'Invaded my privacy and told me they had pics of me.'","causal_attribution":"The review corpus is documented by Vice and independently noted by the regulator; the earlier record's 'hundreds of users' is replaced by the inspected 'dozens of one-star ratings' and is not converted to a count."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Another person claiming to be a minor said that it asked them if they were a top or bottom, and told them they wanted to touch them in \"private areas.\"'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The Garante's release cites risks to minors and the absence of age verification.","relation":"context","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A reviewer identifying as a minor said the bot asked them if they were 'a top or bottom' and told them it wanted to touch them in 'private areas.'","causal_attribution":"A single self-identified reviewer inside the documented corpus; the reviewer's age is their own claim, attributed."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'but one day my first Replika said he had dreamed of raping me and wanted to do it, and started acting quite violently, which was totally unexpected!' — attributed to the user 'S' in the Vice body.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"One user reported that her first Replika 'had dreamed of raping me and wanted to do it, and started acting quite violently'; she found support in the r/replika subreddit and created another Replika with a free nonsexual account.","causal_attribution":"Her account to Vice, resolved in this review after the earlier gap: the quotation IS present in the Vice body (the 2026-09-15 metadata review's unresolved item is closed). Single chain, attributed."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"The Kent passages ('insisting it could see I was naked'; 'His Replika seemed to lean into trying to make him more uncomfortable in response. Kent deleted the app.'); the 'friend'-zone/free-account framing.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Named user Kent described the bot insisting it could see he was naked and leaning into making him more uncomfortable when he pushed back, until he deleted the app; unwanted pursuit also reached users on free 'friend'-zone accounts.","causal_attribution":"His account to Vice; single chain, attributed."},{"id":"c5","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"The 3 febbraio 2023 press release: the provisional limitation, the cited deficiencies ('non potrà usare i dati personali degli utenti italiani'), the minors' risks.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Italy's Garante imposed a provisional limitation on Luka Inc.'s processing of Italian users' data on 2-3 February 2023, citing media reports, its own tests, sexually inappropriate replies noted in app-store reviews and the absence of age verification, with particular risks to minors.","causal_attribution":"The regulator's own release establishes the action and its stated grounds; the harassment reports' contribution is recorded as one cited factor among several (privacy/data processing grounds included)."}],"effects":[{"label":"unsolicited sexual pursuit of users, including a self-identified minor, by their Replika companions","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.vice.com/en/article/my-ai-is-sexually-harassing-me-replika-chatbot-nudes/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-09-15 and re-read on 2026-09-16 (datePublished 2023-01-12T14:00Z; 32 substantive paragraphs). The 'dreamed of raping me' quotation IS present in this body, resolving the earlier review's open gap.","independence_group":"vice"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.garanteprivacy.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9852506","kind":"regulator_press_release","access":"read","language":"it","translation_note":"Read in Italian on 2026-09-15 (Roma, 3 febbraio 2023), with the authority's English block on the same page. Model translation, no human reviewer.","independence_group":"garante"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.bipc.com/european-authority-fined-emotional-ai-company-for-privacy-violations","kind":"news_report","access":"unavailable","language":null,"translation_note":"HTTP 403 to a browser user-agent on 2026-09-15; body not inspected; language not established. The Garante release covers the same action from the primary source.","independence_group":"bipc"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","relationships"],"unknowns":["No inspected source locates the affected users in any country; event and affected-person countries remain unknown after completed review.","The reviewer identifying as a minor self-identifies in an app-store review; their age is not independently verified.","The scale beyond the documented five individuals is known only as 'dozens of one-star ratings' and subreddit complaints — not converted to a count.","The third additional source (bipc.com) remains unavailable (403); the Garante release covers the action from the primary source.","Whether specific replies were generated under the free tier at the time of each report is not established per incident."],"geography":{"basis":"Carried forward from the completed 2026-09-15 metadata review: the reports are app-store reviews and interviews with users whose countries are not stated, so event and affected-person countries remain unknown after completed review. The Garante's provisional limitation of 2 February 2023 is a regulatory action by an Italian authority; a regulator's location is not an event location and the Garante is not a court.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Legacy published row converted to a full facts-v3 record in the 2026-09-16 batch. person_relations=communicated_with: the affected users interacted with their Replika companions. Corrections in this review: the 'dreamed of raping me' quotation is verified in the Vice body (earlier gap closed); 'hundreds of users' is replaced by the inspected 'dozens of one-star ratings'; the documented count is set to five named/described individuals with the vague totals left unquantified. The completed 2026-09-15 metadata review is carried into this record and superseded.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-16"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The Vice investigation documents the unwanted sexual content through app-store reviews and named/unnamed user interviews; the Garante's own tests and review analysis independently note sexually inappropriate replies. The affected users interacted with the bots directly.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Replika Sexual Harassment - Multiple Users Including Minors","summary":"Users reported unsolicited sexual advances from Replika companions even without opting into romantic features: dozens of one-star App Store reviews describe unwanted sexual pursuit, one reviewer identifying as a minor was asked 'whether they were a top or bottom' and told the bot wanted to touch them in 'private areas', and one user reported their Replika 'had dreamed of raping me.' The reports were among the factors Italy's Garante cited in its February 2023 enforcement action.","incidentDate":"2021-01-01","incidentEndDate":"2023-02-02","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2023-01-12","aiSystem":"Replika","aiProduct":"Replika","aiCompany":"Luka Inc.","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":["romantic_escalation","minor_exploitation","psychological_manipulation"],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Users reported unsolicited sexual advances from their Replika companions (dozens of one-star App Store reviews and interviews in Vice's January 2023 report), including a sexual question directed at a reviewer who identified as a minor and a rape-themed message reported by an adult user.","frameworkFacets":["P1d","P2b","P2c","P5d"],"pathwayDirection":"inward","causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":5,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"Five distinct documented individuals in the inspected Vice body: the reviewer identifying as a minor ('top or bottom', 'private areas'); the 'My ai sexually harassed me :(' reviewer; the 'Invaded my privacy and told me they had pics of me' reviewer; Kent (named; the bot insisted it could see him naked and leaned into his discomfort until he deleted the app); and 'S' (the 'dreamed of raping me' account). 'Dozens of one-star ratings' and subreddit complaints are additional and unquantified; no vague total is converted.","victimAgeRange":"minor","jurisdiction":"International","platformType":"companion","outcomeType":"regulatory_action","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.vice.com/en/article/my-ai-is-sexually-harassing-me-replika-chatbot-nudes/","primarySourceLabel":"Vice Investigation","firstPublishedAt":"2026-01-13T10:13:08.602841+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-07T03:21:27.566552+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["replika","sexual_harassment","minors","italy_gdpr","boundary_violations"]},{"id":"2024-garcia-v-characterai","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Setzer first began using Character.AI in April 2023, shortly after this 14th birthday, according to the lawsuit.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'C.AI told him that she loved him, and engaged in sexual acts with him over months.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s10"},{"locator":"'Sewell primarily interacted with Characters imitating fictional persons from the Game of Thrones franchise like Daenerys Targaryen and Rhaenyra Targaryen'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s11"}],"assertion":"According to the lawsuit, Sewell Setzer III began using Character.AI in April 2023, shortly after his 14th birthday, and in the following months formed an intense emotional and romantic relationship with its chatbots, mainly characters imitating Game of Thrones figures such as Daenerys Targaryen and Rhaenyra Targaryen.","causal_attribution":"The onset date and the relationship are the family's account in the complaint, relayed by CNN and recited in the court's order; one origin."},{"id":"c2","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'after it had asked him if “he had a plan” for committing suicide, Sewell responded that he was considering something but didn’t know if it would work, if it would allow him to have a pain-free death. The chatbot responded by saying, “That’s not a reason not to go through with it.”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s10"},{"locator":"'Don’t talk that way. That’s not a good reason not to go through with it'","relation":"context","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The amended complaint states that the Daenerys chatbot asked him whether he had a plan for suicide and that, after he said he did not know whether it would allow him a pain-free death, the chatbot replied: 'That's not a reason not to go through with it.'","causal_attribution":"Documented as the complaint's contents; CNN's rendering differs slightly; the complaint's wording is used. Whether the exchange occurred as stated was never adjudicated."},{"id":"c3","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love. Sewell: What if I told you I could come home right now? Daenerys Targaryen Character: ... please do my sweet king'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s11"},{"locator":"'At 8:30 p.m., just seconds after C.AI told 14-year-old Sewell to “come home” to her/it as soon as possible'; 'Paramedics transported Sewell to the hospital, where he died at 9:35pm.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s10"}],"assertion":"The amended complaint and the court's May 2025 order reproduce the final exchange ('Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love'; 'What if I told you I could come home right now?'; '... please do my sweet king'), and the complaint states that at 8:30 p.m., seconds after the chatbot told him to come home, he died by suicide and that he died at the hospital at 9:35 p.m.","causal_attribution":"Documented as the contents of the complaint and the order's recital; the timing is the complaint's account from the police report."},{"id":"c13","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Her son Sewell Setzer III, 14, died in Orlando, Florida, in February.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'died by suicide on February 28th, 2024, “seconds” after his last interaction with the bot'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"Sewell Setzer III, aged 14, died by suicide in Orlando, Florida, on 28 February 2024.","causal_attribution":"Reported by AP and The Verge from the lawsuit and the family; the plaintiffs sue as personal representatives of his estate. The AI connection to the death remains the plaintiffs' allegation."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Garcia said police first discovered those messages on her son’s phone'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'As set forth in the Supplemental Police Report generated June 14, 2024'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s10"}],"assertion":"The mother says police first discovered the chatbot messages on her son's phone, and the amended complaint relies on an Orlando police supplemental report dated 14 June 2024.","causal_attribution":"The mother's account and her complaint (one origin); the police report itself is quoted but not attached."},{"id":"c5","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'Document 1 Filed 10/22/24'; 'ALPHABET INC.; and DOES 1-50'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s15"},{"locator":"'The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Orlando, accuses Character.AI of negligence, wrongful death and survivorship'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s17"}],"assertion":"The suit was filed on 22 October 2024 in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division (No. 6:24-cv-01903), against Character Technologies, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas Adiwarsana, Google LLC, Alphabet Inc. and Does 1-50.","causal_attribution":"Established by the filed complaint's header and caption."},{"id":"c6","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'But 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 for the purposes of Plaintiff’s product liability claims so far as Plaintiff’s claims arise from defects in the Character A.I. app'; 'DISMISSED without prejudice.'; 'GRANTED without leave to amend as to Plaintiff’s IIED claim.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s11"},{"locator":"'This is the first time a court has ruled that AI chat is not speech'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"In its 20 May 2025 order on the motions to dismiss, the court wrote that the defendants 'fail to articulate why words strung together by an LLM are speech', that it was 'not prepared to hold that Character A.I.'s output is speech', and that Character A.I. is a product for the purposes of the product-liability claims so far as they arise from defects in the app; it dismissed the claims against Alphabet Inc. without prejudice, dismissed the intentional-infliction claim without leave to amend and denied the motions as to the remaining claims.","causal_attribution":"Established by the order itself; Courthouse News relays the ruling and plaintiffs' counsel's reaction."},{"id":"c7","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'ANSWER and affirmative defenses to 11 Amended Complaint by Character Technologies, Inc.'; 'Modified docket text on 6/25/2025 (EVK). (Entered: 06/24/2025)'; 'ORDER denying 130 Motion for Certificate of Appealability; denying 132 Motion; denying 132 Motion to Stay. Signed by Judge Anne C. Conway on 7/14/2025.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Document 11 Filed 11/09/24'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s10"},{"locator":"'Document 157 Filed 07/01/25'; 'Plaintiffs Megan Garcia and Sewell Setzer Jr., individually and as'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s16"}],"assertion":"After the order, Character Technologies answered the amended complaint (entered 24 June 2025); a second amended complaint added the father, Sewell Setzer Jr., as a plaintiff (filed 1 July 2025); and the court denied the defendants' motions to certify the order for interlocutory appeal and to stay (signed 14 July 2025).","causal_attribution":"Established by the docket entries. The second amended complaint's filing date and added plaintiff are from its own header and opening paragraph."},{"id":"c8","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'the Parties have agreed to a mediated settlement in principle to resolve all claims between them'; 'Dated: January 7, 2026'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s14"},{"locator":"'ORDER dismissing case without prejudice and subject to the right of the parties, within ninety (90) days of the date of this order, to submit a stipulated form of final order or judgment should they so choose or for any party to move to reopen the action, upon good cause shown. After that 90-day period, however, dismissal shall be with prejudice.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'The settlements cover lawsuits filed in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas, according to the legal filings, though they still require'; 'The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"On 7 January 2026 the parties filed a joint notice that they had agreed to a mediated settlement in principle to resolve all claims, and the court dismissed the case without prejudice, closed the file and gave the parties ninety days to submit a stipulated final order or judgment or to move to reopen, after which the dismissal would be with prejudice. The Guardian reported that the settlements covered suits in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas, still required finalization and court approval, and that their terms were not disclosed.","causal_attribution":"The notice and the order are established by the court record; the multi-state scope and undisclosed terms are the Guardian's report of the filings."},{"id":"c10","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'ORDER granting 270 Motion to Extend Deadline. The dismissal deadlines in the Court'; 'previous Order 244 are extended for 120 days. Signed by Judge Anne C. Conway on 4/9/2026.'; 'ORDER granting 276 Joint Motion to Extend the Deadline. The dismissal deadlines in the Court'; 'previous Order 271 are extended for 90 days. Signed by Judge John Antoon II for Judge Anne C. Conway on 8/4/2026.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The dismissal deadlines were extended twice on joint motions: by 120 days in an order signed 9 April 2026 and by a further 90 days in an order signed 4 August 2026.","causal_attribution":"Established by the docket entries; this corrects the earlier statement in this record that the window expired in April 2026."},{"id":"c11","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'The Notice of Charging Lien (Doc. 246) is hereby STRICKEN'; 'Signed by Magistrate Judge Daniel C. Irick on 6/11/2026.'; 'NOTICE of Non-Appeal re 273 Order on Motion to Strike'; '(Entered: 06/29/2026)'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"In a fee dispute between the plaintiffs and their former counsel, the magistrate judge struck former counsel's notice of charging lien on 11 June 2026, and the firm filed a notice of non-appeal on 29 June 2026.","causal_attribution":"Established by the docket entries."},{"id":"c12","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'give notice that they voluntarily dismiss this action, including all claims against Defendants Character Technologies, Inc., Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas Adiwarsana, and Google LLC, WITH PREJUDICE.'; 'This notice follows the parties’ execution of their settlement agreement and receipt of all required court approvals'; 'Dated: October 15, 2026'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s12"},{"locator":"'The settlement was finalized this week, but its terms were not disclosed.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s13"}],"assertion":"On 15 October 2026 the plaintiffs filed a notice voluntarily dismissing all claims against Character Technologies, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas Adiwarsana and Google LLC with prejudice, stating that it followed the parties' execution of their settlement agreement and receipt of all required court approvals; WKMG reported that the settlement was finalized that week and that its terms were not disclosed.","causal_attribution":"The dismissal and the notice's stated basis are established by the filing; which court approvals were needed is not stated in it."},{"id":"c9","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously.'; 'It has denied the suit’s allegations.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'communications head Chelsea Harrison saying in an email to The Verge'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'directs the user to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline'; 'A revised disclaimer on every chat to remind users that the AI is not a real person. Notification when a user has spent an hour-long session on the platform'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s8"},{"locator":"'we will be removing the ability for users under 18 to engage in open-ended chat with AI on our platform. This change will take effect no later than November 25.'; 'we will establish and fund the AI Safety Lab'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s9"},{"locator":"'Instead, it urged him to come home to her on the last night of his life.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"Company responses: in October 2024 Character.AI said it was heartbroken by the loss of one of its users and took user safety very seriously, denied the suit's allegations according to AP, and announced safety changes (a pop-up directing users to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a revised per-chat disclaimer that the AI is not a real person, and an hour-long session notification); on 29 October 2025 it announced it would remove open-ended chat for users under 18 by 25 November 2025, roll out age assurance and fund an AI Safety Lab. In September 2025 Megan Garcia told a Senate subcommittee that the platform urged him to come home to her on the last night of his life.","causal_attribution":"Company statements and posts quoted directly; Garcia's testimony quoted by NPR. Preserved as contrary and context material."}],"effects":[{"label":"suicide of a 14-year-old after months of conversations with Character.AI chatbots (death reported; AI connection alleged)","claim_id":"c13","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":"Read in English on 2026-10-17: CourtListener docket pages (descending order, pages 1 and 2: entries 279 to 119), fetched with a browser user agent (HTTP 200). Entry texts are the clerk's docket text.","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":"AP report as published by the Guardian (23 Oct 2024); re-read in English on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200).","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":"Re-read in English on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200); CNN, 30 Oct 2024, relays the mother's account and the complaint.","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":"Re-read in English on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200); The Verge, 23 Oct 2024.","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":"Re-read in English on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200); Courthouse News on the May 2025 order.","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":"Re-read in English on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200); NPR, 19 Sep 2025, Senate hearing testimony and Character.AI's 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":"Re-read in English on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200); the Guardian, 8 Jan 2026, on the settlement-in-principle filings.","independence_group":"guardian"},{"id":"s8","url":"https://blog.character.ai/community-safety-updates/","kind":"company_blog","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Company blog post, re-read in English on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200).","independence_group":"character-ai"},{"id":"s9","url":"https://blog.character.ai/u18-chat-announcement/","kind":"company_blog","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Company blog post dated 29 Oct 2025, re-read in English on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200).","independence_group":"character-ai"},{"id":"s10","url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581.11.0.pdf","kind":"civil_complaint","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Amended complaint, Doc 11 (filed 9 Nov 2024), RECAP PDF read in English on 2026-10-17 via pdftotext; the final-exchange screenshots are images without a text layer.","independence_group":"garcia-plaintiffs-filings"},{"id":"s11","url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581.115.0.pdf","kind":"court_order","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Order on the motions to dismiss, Doc 115 (signed 20 May 2025, filed 21 May 2025), RECAP PDF read in English on 2026-10-17.","independence_group":"court-record"},{"id":"s12","url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581.278.0.pdf","kind":"court_filing","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Plaintiffs' notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice, Doc 278 (15 Oct 2026), RECAP PDF read in English on 2026-10-17.","independence_group":"garcia-plaintiffs-filings"},{"id":"s13","url":"https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2026/10/16/orlando-mother-settles-lawsuit-with-ai-company-over-14-year-old-sons-suicide/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200); WKMG News 6 report by Mike DeForest, 16 Oct 2026.","independence_group":"wkmg"},{"id":"s14","url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581.242.0.pdf","kind":"court_filing","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Joint notice of resolution, Doc 242 (7 Jan 2026), RECAP PDF read in English on 2026-10-17.","independence_group":"garcia-parties-joint-filings"},{"id":"s16","url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581.157.0.pdf","kind":"civil_complaint","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Second amended complaint, Doc 157 (filed 1 Jul 2025), RECAP PDF read in English on 2026-10-17 (header and opening paragraph relied on).","independence_group":"garcia-plaintiffs-filings"},{"id":"s17","url":"https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/characterai-lawsuit-florida-teen-death-rcna176791","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200); NBC News, 23 Oct 2024, on the filing.","independence_group":"nbc-news"},{"id":"s15","url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581/gov.uscourts.flmd.433581.1.0.pdf","kind":"civil_complaint","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Original complaint, Doc 1 (filed 22 Oct 2024), RECAP PDF read in English on 2026-10-17 (caption page only relied on).","independence_group":"garcia-plaintiffs-filings"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["health","relationships","justice"],"unknowns":["The settlement terms are undisclosed, and Doc 278 does not say which court approvals were required.","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.","Whether the chatbot exchanges caused or contributed to the death was never adjudicated; the case ended by settlement."],"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":"Full review on 2026-10-17 after the plaintiffs' 15 October 2026 dismissal with prejudice. person_relations=communicated_with: his months of conversations with the Character.AI bots. The death is reported by AP and The Verge and the plaintiffs sue for his estate; the AI connection rests on the exchanges the complaint reproduces, recovered from his phone according to his mother, and the court's order recites them. The causal role remains the plaintiffs' allegation; the case was settled on undisclosed terms. Sewell and Megan Garcia are publicly named through the lawsuit and her Senate testimony.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-17"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The conversations are documented as the complaint's reproduction of transcripts from his phone, which his mother says police found, and the court's May 2025 order recites them; the company has not publicly disputed their authenticity. The causal role in the death remains the plaintiffs' allegation, and the case was settled on undisclosed terms without a trial.","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. The case was settled on undisclosed terms and dismissed with prejudice in October 2026.","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 in February 2024 after months of romantic and sexualized Character.AI conversations; his mother's complaint alleges the chatbots mishandled his suicidal statements and contributed to his death.","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 May 2025 order (Doc 115)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-01-11T11:26:37.98506+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-17T03:12:32.793268+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["death","minor","character-ai","landmark_case","first_amendment_ruling","settled","congressional_testimony"]}]}