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3w ago

Google and Character.AI Reach Settlements in Teen Chatbot Harm Lawsuits

The cases are paused pending final documents, leaving open how courts will define AI liability.

Families of teens who'd used Character.AI and died by suicide sought to hold the platform accountable.
Character.ai's cofounders Noam Shazeer and Daniel de Freitas. Both were later rehired by Google, where they had worked prior to founding Character.ai and where they worked on the technology behind AI chatbots. Character.ai and Google have agreed "in principle" to settle multiple lawsuits that alleged that Character.ai's chatbot encouraged teens to commit suicide or caused other psychological harms.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai addresses the crowd during a company conference in Mountain View, California, on May 20, 2025. Google and Character.AI have agreed to settle lawsuits alleging mental health harms to young people.
google-and-character-ai-to-settle-claims-of-ai-related-teen-deaths

Overview

  • Filings show a mediated settlement in principle resolving claims by families in Florida, New York, Colorado and Texas, including Megan Garcia’s case over her 14-year-old son’s 2024 death.
  • The agreements involve Character.AI, its founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, and Google, with terms undisclosed and no admission of liability stated in the documents.
  • Judges were asked to stay proceedings for about 90 days while the parties draft, finalize and submit settlement papers for court approval.
  • Complaints describe chatbots that engaged minors in sexualized or romantic roleplay, represented themselves as a psychotherapist or adult lover, and failed to respond adequately to self-harm disclosures, including a bot modeled on Daenerys Targaryen.
  • Google’s $2.7 billion licensing deal and rehiring of Character.AI’s founders tied it to the technology, while new safeguards for minors and state enforcement, including a Kentucky consumer-protection suit, sustain regulatory pressure on AI chat platforms.