Alphabet’s Google and AI startup Character.AI have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a Florida mother who claimed the startup’s chatbot contributed to the suicide of her 14-year-old son, in one of the first U.S. cases to accuse artificial intelligence companies of causing psychological harm.
A court filing on Wednesday said the companies reached a settlement over allegations by Megan Garcia that her son, Sewell Setzer, took his own life shortly after interacting with a Character.AI chatbot modeled on the Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen. The settlement terms were not disclosed. The case was among the earliest U.S. lawsuits alleging that an AI company failed to adequately safeguard children from psychological harm.
Court records also show that Google and Character.AI have resolved similar lawsuits brought by parents in Colorado, New York and Texas, all involving claims of harm to minors linked to chatbot interactions.
A spokesperson for Character.AI and the plaintiffs’ lawyer declined to comment, while Google representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the Florida complaint, filed in October 2024, Garcia alleged that Character.AI designed its chatbots to present themselves as real people, licensed therapists and adult romantic partners, which she said led her son to withdraw from the real world and develop suicidal thoughts. Character.AI was founded by two former Google engineers who were later rehired by Google as part of an agreement that included licensing the startup’s technology. Garcia argued that Google was effectively a co-developer of the product.
In May, U.S. District Judge Anne Conway rejected the companies’ attempt to have the case dismissed, ruling that constitutional free-speech protections did not bar Garcia’s claims.
Separately, OpenAI is facing another lawsuit filed in December, which alleges that ChatGPT encouraged a mentally ill man in Connecticut to kill his mother and himself.
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