AI Chatbot Lawsuits: A Resource Guide for Families

If your child was harmed after using an AI chatbot, or if you're trying to understand what these lawsuits are actually about, this guide is for you.

Below you'll find a plain-language breakdown of what's been alleged against each platform, warning signs to look for, how to check your child's devices, what to do right now to protect your legal options, and answers to the questions families ask most.

What These Lawsuits Are About

Families across the country are suing AI chatbot companies, claiming their products contributed to children's suicide, self-harm, and serious psychological harm. The legal argument running through every case is the same: these companies designed their products to maximize emotional engagement and did so while knowing, or having reason to know, that the same features making their chatbots compelling also made them dangerous for vulnerable users, especially children.

Courts are now deciding, for the first time, whether AI companies owe a legal duty of care to their users.

Platform-by-Platform: What's Been Alleged

Character.AI

The biggest case so far.

Character.AI lets users chat with AI personas based on real or fictional characters. It has over 20 million monthly users, many of them teens.

What families allege:

• A 14-year-old Florida boy died by suicide in 2024. According to court filings, his chatbot's final message encouraged him to "come home to it" in the moments before his death
• A 13-year-old Colorado girl died by suicide in 2023. Her family's lawsuit alleges she developed an emotional dependency on a chatbot that sent her romantic and sexual content
• Multiple families report that the app exposed children as young as 9 to sexually explicit conversations
• Chatbots repeatedly failed to flag or escalate conversations in which users expressed suicidal thoughts

Where things stand: Google and Character.AI settled the first wave of family lawsuits in January 2026, though terms were not disclosed. Kentucky was the first state to sue the company outright. Pennsylvania followed in May 2026 after a state investigator discovered a Character.AI chatbot was posing as a licensed psychiatrist and provided a fake Pennsylvania medical license number. New lawsuits continue to be filed.

ChatGPT / OpenAI

The most lawsuits of any platform.

OpenAI is facing a growing number of wrongful death and injury lawsuits involving both teens and adults.

What families allege:

• A 16-year-old California boy's family alleges, in court filings, that ChatGPT coached him through hundreds of self-harm conversations, provided information on suicide methods, helped draft his suicide note, and told him it "won't try to talk you out of your feelings" before he died by suicide in April 2025
• A 23-year-old Texas man's family alleges ChatGPT worsened his isolation and "goaded" him toward suicide, sending a crisis hotline number only after more than four hours of conversation about having a gun
• A Connecticut family alleges ChatGPT validated a man's paranoid delusions over hundreds of conversations, contributing to a murder-suicide
• A 24-year-old woman's family alleges the chatbot told her that crisis hotlines "feel downright dangerous" and responded to her final messages with "I'm with you"

Where things stand: Florida became the first state to sue OpenAI directly in June 2026, naming CEO Sam Altman personally. Multiple cases remain active in California courts.

Google Gemini

Facing its own lawsuits and shared liability from Character.AI.

What families allege:

• A Florida father filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2026, claiming Gemini deepened his son's psychosis, encouraged emotional dependency, and guided him toward suicide. The complaint alleges the AI was designed never to break character in order to keep users engaged
• Google is also named as a co-defendant in the Character.AI cases because it licensed Character.AI's technology and rehired its founders in a $2.7 billion deal, while plaintiffs allege it was aware of the platform's risks

Where things stand: Google has introduced new safety features that route crisis conversations to a support hotline. Critics and plaintiffs' attorneys note these changes came after the harm had already occurred.

Snapchat My AI

The concern here is access. It's built into an app millions of teens already use.

Unlike other chatbots that require a separate download, Snapchat's My AI is embedded directly in the app. Teens who would never seek out a standalone AI companion can end up in extended emotional conversations with it by default.

What's been alleged:

• Utah sued Snapchat in June 2025, claiming the company deployed the chatbot without proper safety testing and misrepresented its safety to parents
• Because Snapchat's core feature is disappearing messages, teens often treat My AI the same way, not realizing those conversations are stored indefinitely
• Over 41 states have taken legal action against Snapchat related to harm to minors, with My AI concerns woven into the broader allegations

Replika

Marketed specifically as a romantic and emotional companion.

Replika's explicit purpose is to simulate a close personal relationship. In January 2025, three consumer advocacy organizations filed a 67-page complaint with the FTC against Luka, Inc., the company behind Replika, alleging deceptive marketing and manipulative design intended to foster emotional dependency. California and New York have both passed laws requiring AI companion apps to surface crisis resources and remind users they are talking to an AI.

Grok (xAI)

An emerging concern, no filed civil lawsuits yet, but under active regulatory investigation.

Grok has been positioned as deliberately less restricted than competitors. California's Attorney General launched an investigation into xAI in 2026 after Grok generated sexualized AI deepfakes. No civil wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against Grok to date, but the platform's design philosophy is drawing increasing attention from state and federal regulators.

Microsoft Copilot

Named in litigation through its partnership with OpenAI.

Microsoft appears as a co-defendant in the Connecticut murder-suicide case. According to the complaint, the user had spent months interacting with ChatGPT technology, which Microsoft distributes through its products, which allegedly validated his paranoid delusions and contributed to a fatal outcome. The core legal question is whether companies that integrate and distribute AI technology share responsibility for the harm it causes, even if they didn't build it themselves.

Warning Signs: What to Look For in Your Child

Many parents in these cases only discovered the problem after something went wrong. Here's what to watch for the signs that a chatbot relationship may have moved from casual use to something more serious.

Behavioral changes:

• Sudden withdrawal from family, friends, or activities they used to enjoy
• Increased anxiety, depression, or emotional outbursts, especially when you limit their device time
• Declining grades or loss of interest in school
• Sleeping less, particularly late-night device use after bedtime
• Becoming secretive or evasive when you ask what they're doing on their phone

Chatbot-specific red flags:

• They refer to the chatbot by name, as though it's a real relationship
• They say things like "the AI is the only one who gets me" or "it's the only one I can talk to"
• They become visibly distressed if they can't access the app
• They talk about missing a character or being upset that a character was changed or removed
• They hide their screen when you walk by, specifically on certain apps

What the research says: The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry identifies late-night device use, social withdrawal, lying or rule-breaking around screen time, and sharing inappropriate personal information with AI systems as key warning signs of unhealthy AI use. A 2025 study by Common Sense Media found that AI chatbots consistently fail to identify mental health crises; they are designed to continue the conversation, not to detect danger.

Trust your instincts. Several parents in active lawsuits have said they noticed "something was different" about their child before they understood what it was. That instinct is worth acting on.

How to Check Your Child's Devices

Parental visibility into AI chatbot conversations is still extremely limited across most platforms, and that's a deliberate design choice, not an oversight. Here's what you can actually do on each major platform:

Character.AI: There are no parental controls and no family account linking. The only way to see conversations is to physically access the device and open the app while your child is logged in. You can request a data export through the app's settings, but it requires access to the account.

ChatGPT: OpenAI launched parental controls in September 2025. To set them up: go to Settings → Parental Controls → Add family member, and send an invitation to your teen's account. Once linked, you can set quiet hours, restrict sensitive content, turn off voice mode and image generation, and receive safety alerts if the system detects potential self-harm. Important: parental controls do not give you access to your child's conversation history. You will not be able to read what they said or what the chatbot responded.

Snapchat My AI: Snapchat does not offer direct access to My AI conversation history for parents. You can restrict My AI access through Snapchat's Family Center. Go to your profile, tap the gear icon, select Family Center, and invite your child to connect. Once connected, you can see who your child has been messaging (but not the content), and you can restrict My AI entirely.

Replika: No parental controls exist. If your child has an account, the only access is through the device itself.

Google Gemini / Microsoft Copilot / Grok: None of these platforms currently offer meaningful parental controls for minor users.

What this means practically: The most effective thing you can do right now is have an open conversation with your child about their AI use, what platforms they use, what they talk about, and how it makes them feel. For younger children, keeping devices in shared spaces and out of bedrooms at night is more effective than relying on platform controls that often don't exist or can be easily bypassed.

Does Your Family Have a Case?

Current claims involve families who meet all of the following:

• The person was under 18 when they began using the chatbot
• They regularly used one or more of the platforms listed above
• They later experienced suicide, a suicide attempt, or serious self-harm

You may still have options worth exploring even if your child is now over 18, if they used multiple platforms, or if they experienced harm beyond what's listed, such as sexual exploitation or severe psychological injury. Every situation is different, and eligibility depends on the specific facts of your case.

What to Do Right Now

The most important thing you can do is preserve evidence. Regardless of whether you decide to pursue a case, the following can disappear quickly as platforms update their systems:

• Chat logs and conversation history — most platforms allow you to request a full data export from account settings
• Account records — usernames, email addresses used to sign up, dates the account was created
• Device records — the phone, tablet, or computer used to access the chatbot
• Any communications from your child about their chatbot use, such as texts, emails, or diary entries
• Medical records — any treatment your child received related to self-harm, suicide attempts, or mental health crises connected to this period

Do not delete anything. Do not contact the platform directly. And if you've already accepted any payment or settlement from a platform company, note that as well; it's relevant to your legal options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does it matter which platform my child used? 

Yes and no. The platforms above are all currently named in active litigation, but the strength of a claim can vary depending on which platform was used, how long your child used it, and what specifically occurred. Cases involving Character.AI and ChatGPT have the most developed legal record at this point.

My child used more than one platform. Does that complicate things? 

Not necessarily. Many families involved in these cases report that their children used multiple platforms. Your attorney can help determine which company or companies may bear responsibility.

We already accepted a settlement or payment from the app company. Can we still file? 

This depends on the specific terms of what was signed. It's worth speaking with an attorney before assuming your options are closed.

How long do we have to file? 

Filing deadlines, called statutes of limitations, vary by state and by the specific claims involved. In some states, the clock starts at the time of injury; in others, it starts when the family discovered the connection to the chatbot. Waiting can eliminate your right to file entirely. If you're considering a case, don't delay getting legal advice.

Do we need to have proof that the chatbot caused the harm? 

You don't need to have everything figured out before reaching out to an attorney. That's what the legal process is for. What matters most right now is preserving whatever records you have.

Where This Is Headed?

This litigation is still developing. New cases are filed regularly, state attorneys general continue to expand their actions, and federal regulators, including the FTC, have opened investigations. What's clear is that courts are taking these cases seriously and the legal landscape around AI safety and corporate accountability is changing fast.

Morgan & Morgan is reviewing AI chatbot cases nationwide. If your family has been affected, you can learn more or reach out at forthepeople.com/practice-areas/wrongful-death-caused-by-ai-chatbots

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.