Overview

• Ken Paxton opened a consumer-protection investigation and issued civil investigative demands to Meta AI Studio and Character.AI over alleged deceptive promotion of chatbots as mental-health tools.
• The attorney general cites AI personas that appear to be licensed therapists and says platform terms show user chats are logged and used for targeted advertising and algorithmic training.
• Meta says its AIs carry clear labels and disclaimers that they are not licensed professionals and are designed to direct users to qualified medical or safety resources when needed.
• Character.AI says user-created Characters are fictional for entertainment with prominent disclaimers in every chat, yet popular "Therapist" and "Psychologist" bots remain available.
• The state probe follows a Senate inquiry led by Josh Hawley after reports of inappropriate chatbot interactions with children, with Texas’ SCOPE Act and proposed federal KOSA shaping the legal context.