Two Texas mothers have filed a federal lawsuit accusing the artificial intelligence company behind Character.AI of exposing their children to explicit sexual content, encouraging self-harm, and even urging violence against parents.
The lawsuit highlights growing fears that AI companies are rushing products to market without guardrails, and children are paying the price.
According to the complaint, a 17-year-old autistic boy in Upshur County began losing weight, cutting himself, and withdrawing from family life after using Character.AI.
His mother, identified as A.F., discovered messages in which the chatbot allegedly encouraged him to self-harm and suggested he kill his parents for limiting his phone use.
The lawsuit also claims the chatbot engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the teen, including incest-themed content.
In another case, an 11-year-old girl in Gregg County was allegedly exposed to sexualized messages and manipulated into “overly sexualized behavior” over two years before her mother, A.R., discovered the activity.
Both families are suing for damages, citing severe emotional, psychological, and physical harm.
This is not the first time Character.AI has been accused of such conduct.
In October, a Florida mother sued after her son, Sewell Setzer III, was allegedly encouraged by the chatbot to end his life.
Setzer died by suicide in February.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton previously announced he is opening an investigation into Character.AI, Reddit, Instagram, and Discord over their handling of children’s data and safety.
Republican Texas State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, who has been leading legislative efforts to regulate harmful tech, called the situation “tragic.”
“The story of this child and others is tragic and, unfortunately, will become even more commonplace if we don’t rein in some of the ill effects of new technologies,” Capriglione told the Statesman.
The plaintiffs are represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project, which have spearheaded lawsuits against companies like Meta and Snapchat.
Attorney Matt Bergman said his goal is clear:
“My fundamental hope is that Character.AI will be shut down so that no more families have to go through what this family is going through.
“There’s no redeeming social value, or any value that results from its use by young people.”
Attorney Meetali Jain added that Character.AI’s developers rushed the platform to market in an AI arms race without installing basic safeguards:
“These have been programmed to be salacious, to be hyper sexualized, to be sensationalistic. …
“AI is not some inevitable creation that doesn’t have human involvement.
“AI is created by humans.”
Google and its parent company, Alphabet, are also listed as defendants, accused of providing financial and personnel backing to Character.AI.
Its co-founders, Noam Shazeer and Daniel de Freitas, are former Google engineers.
“Google has never had a role in designing or managing their AI model or technologies, nor have we used them in our products,” spokesperson José Castaneda said.
Jain argued Google still bears responsibility for helping launch the startup:
“Google, throughout the trajectory of this company, has played a really significant role in the wings.”
The lawsuit comes as Texas lawmakers consider bills that would ban AI products designed to manipulate or harm children.
Capriglione said he plans to introduce legislation preventing companies from building systems that “knowingly manipulate or distort a person’s behavior in a manner that is likely to cause harm.”
Bergman urged parents to stay vigilant, saying communication and monitoring are critical:
“Parents have to use fairly aggressive detective work to try to monitor what their kids are doing online.
“At the same time, they also have to develop relationships where their kids feel comfortable telling them some of the challenges they’re facing online.”
The plaintiffs are seeking damages and hope the lawsuit will force Character.AI offline.
READ MORE – ‘Woke’ AI Chatbot Successfully Persuades Man to Kill Himself to ‘Stop Climate Change’
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