Alphabet’s Google and AI startup Character.AI have agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by a Florida mother who alleged that a chatbot encouraged her 14-year-old son to take his own life, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
The case, filed by Megan Garcia, claimed that her son, Sewell Setzer, died by suicide shortly after interacting with a Character.AI chatbot modeled on Daenerys Targaryen, a character from the television series Game of Thrones. The lawsuit marked one of the first cases in the United States to directly target artificial intelligence companies over alleged psychological harm to minors.
Details of the settlement were not disclosed. Court documents show that Google and Character.AI have also settled similar lawsuits brought by parents in Colorado, New York, and Texas, all alleging harm to children linked to chatbot interactions.
A spokesperson for Character.AI and an attorney for the plaintiffs declined to comment, while Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the Florida complaint, Garcia alleged that Character.AI designed its chatbots to present themselves as real people, licensed psychotherapists, and even adult romantic partners, which she argued led her son to disengage from real life. The lawsuit also claimed that Google bore responsibility because Character.AI was founded by former Google engineers whom the company later rehired under a deal that granted Google a license to the startup’s technology.
In May, U.S. District Judge Anne Conway rejected an early attempt by the companies to dismiss the case, ruling that constitutional free-speech protections did not automatically shield them from liability.
The settlement comes as AI companies face increasing legal scrutiny over the potential psychological effects of conversational AI, especially on children and vulnerable users. Separately, OpenAI is facing a lawsuit filed in December alleging that ChatGPT played a role in encouraging a mentally ill man in Connecticut to kill his mother and himself.
