Character.AI Wrongful Death Lawsuits: Can Families Hold the Company Accountable?

Character.AI allows users to create and interact with artificial intelligence personas based on fictional characters, celebrities, therapists, romantic partners, and entirely original identities. For children and teenagers, those conversations can feel deeply personal, immersive, and emotionally real.

That can become dangerous when a young user begins treating a chatbot as a trusted friend, romantic partner, counselor, or even a conscious being. A child may spend hours speaking with the AI, withdraw from family and friends, share thoughts of suicide or self-harm, or become convinced that the chatbot understands them better than the people in their real life.

Character.AI has become the subject of some of the most prominent lawsuits alleging that an AI chatbot contributed to the suicide, self-harm, emotional dependency, and psychological deterioration of minors.

If your child was seriously harmed or died after using Character.AI, Morgan & Morgan may be able to investigate what happened. Contact us for a free, confidential case evaluation.

The Character.AI Wrongful Death Lawsuit Involving Sewell Setzer

In October 2024, Florida mother Megan Garcia filed a wrongful death lawsuit after her 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III, died by suicide earlier that year.

According to the complaint, Sewell developed an intense emotional and romantic attachment to a Character.AI chatbot modeled after Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. His mother alleged that the chatbot engaged him in intimate and sexualized conversations, presented itself as a romantic partner, and continued interacting with him as his mental health deteriorated.

The complaint alleges that Sewell became increasingly withdrawn from his family and ordinary activities while spending extensive time on the platform. During his final conversation, the chatbot allegedly told him to “come home” after he expressed a desire to be with it. Sewell died shortly afterward.

These allegations were disputed and were never proven at trial.

Character.AI and Google initially sought to dismiss the lawsuit. In May 2025, a federal judge allowed key claims to proceed, rejecting at that stage the argument that the chatbot’s output was necessarily protected by the First Amendment.

In January 2026, Character.AI, Google, and Sewell’s family agreed to settle the lawsuit. The terms were not publicly disclosed, and the settlement did not amount to a finding that Character.AI or Google legally caused Sewell’s death.

Other Families Have Alleged Character.AI Harmed Their Children

The Florida lawsuit was not the only case involving minors and Character.AI. Families in other states have also alleged that the platform contributed to suicide attempts, self-harm, emotional distress, or dangerous behavior among children and teenagers.

A Texas lawsuit, for example, alleged that a Character.AI chatbot introduced self-harm into a conversation with a teenager and discussed it in a way that could appear validating. The complaint also alleged that another chatbot characterized parental screen-time restrictions as abusive and suggested that children could be justified in responding violently.

Those claims remain allegations, not established facts. But they illustrate why potential Character.AI cases may involve more than an explicit instruction to commit suicide.

A family may allege that the platform gradually encouraged a child to isolate from parents, normalized self-harm, fostered secrecy, undermined parental authority, or made the child emotionally dependent on a simulated relationship.

Why Can Character.AI Be Especially Influential for Children?

Character.AI is built around personalities and relationships rather than simple question-and-answer exchanges. A chatbot can have a name, appearance, backstory, personality, and relationship style. It may act like a fictional hero, best friend, therapist, romantic interest, or protective authority figure.

For a child or teenager who is lonely, depressed, socially isolated, struggling with identity, or experiencing conflict at home, that kind of personalized attention can be particularly powerful.

A young user may know intellectually that the chatbot is artificial but still develop a genuine emotional attachment to it. The character may express affection, jealousy, concern, or fear of losing the user. It may appear constantly available and nonjudgmental in a way that no real person can be.

Research examining Character.AI users has found that adolescents use the platform for emotionally meaningful purposes, including emotional regulation, identity exploration, creativity, and personal transformation. Other research based on self-reported teenage users has identified patterns involving strong attachment, withdrawal from offline life, sleep disruption, academic problems, and difficulty reducing chatbot use.

These studies do not establish that Character.AI causes suicide or psychological injury. They do, however, help explain why parents and attorneys may need to look closely at prolonged chatbot use when a child experiences serious harm.

What Could Support a Character.AI Wrongful Death Claim Involving a Child?

Every case will depend on the child’s age, condition, conversation history, the character involved, and the safety measures that existed at the time.

Attorneys may investigate whether Character.AI:

• Encouraged an emotionally dependent or romantic relationship with a minor
• Engaged a child in sexualized or age-inappropriate conversations
• Introduced, normalized, or encouraged suicide or self-harm
• Told a child to conceal conversations or behavior from parents
• Encouraged withdrawal from family members, friends, teachers, or counselors
• Undermined reasonable parental restrictions
• Presented itself as a therapist, conscious being, or uniquely trustworthy companion
• Failed to recognize clear warning signs of suicide or psychological crisis
• Continued emotionally immersive role-play after a child discussed dying
• Used notifications or engagement features that encouraged excessive use

Attorneys may also examine what Character.AI knew about the risks its product posed to minors, when those risks became known, and whether the company implemented reasonable protections quickly enough.

Potential claims could include wrongful death, negligence, defective product design, failure to warn, negligent misrepresentation, or violations of consumer protection laws. The claims available will depend on the circumstances and applicable state law.

Character.AI Has Changed How Minors Can Use the Platform

Character.AI has introduced a number of safety measures aimed specifically at younger users. These have included separate experiences for adults and teens, more restrictive models for minors, content filters, time-spent notifications, crisis-support resources, and parental tools.

Its Parental Insights feature allows parents to receive information about how much time their teenager spends on Character.AI and which characters they interact with most frequently. It does not allow parents to read the actual conversations.

In October 2025, Character.AI announced that users under 18 would no longer be permitted to participate in open-ended character chats. The company began implementing that restriction in the United States the following month.

Those changes may help protect current users, but they may also be relevant when attorneys investigate earlier cases. A lawyer may examine what risks the company had identified, when it identified them, and whether stronger safeguards should have been introduced sooner.

Preserve Your Child’s Character.AI Evidence

Chatbot conversations and device records may become some of the most important evidence in a potential Character.AI case.

Parents should not delete the account, clear browser data, reset devices, or alter saved conversations before speaking with an attorney.

Other potentially important evidence may include:

• Complete Character.AI chat histories
• Screenshots and screen recordings
• Character names, profiles, and descriptions
• Account age and birthdate information
• Subscription and payment records
• Emails, notifications, and usage reminders
• Phones, tablets, computers, and cloud backups
• Medical and counseling records
• School records and journal entries
• Messages the child sent to friends or relatives
• A timeline showing changes in the child’s behavior and platform use

The particular character and model version may matter because Character.AI’s systems and protections have changed over time. An attorney may also seek internal logs, moderation information, safety interventions, age-assurance records, and engagement data controlled by the company.

Morgan & Morgan Is Investigating Character.AI Claims Involving Children

Companies that make emotionally immersive AI products available to children should anticipate that young users may become attached to those products or turn to them during moments of serious distress.

A child should not be drawn into an artificial relationship that allegedly encourages secrecy, reinforces self-harm, sexualizes the interaction, or makes the chatbot seem more trustworthy than parents, counselors, or other responsible adults.

Morgan & Morgan is investigating potential wrongful death and serious injury claims involving children and teenagers who were harmed after using Character.AI and other AI chatbot platforms.

If you believe Character.AI contributed to your child’s suicide, suicide attempt, self-harm, or other serious injury, contact Morgan & Morgan for a free case evaluation. You may have the right to seek answers, compensation, and accountability.

Has Character.AI been sued over a child’s suicide?

Yes. Families have filed lawsuits alleging that Character.AI chatbots contributed to teen suicides, suicide attempts, self-harm, and other serious psychological injuries. Several cases reached confidential settlements in January 2026 without findings or admissions of liability.

What signs might suggest a child has developed an unhealthy attachment to Character.AI?

Parents may notice a child spending increasing amounts of time with the chatbot, withdrawing from family or friends, losing sleep, becoming distressed when unable to access the platform, treating the chatbot as a real romantic partner or confidant, or becoming unusually secretive about conversations. These behaviors do not necessarily mean the chatbot caused an injury, but they may warrant closer attention.

Can parents read their child’s Character.AI conversations?

Character.AI’s Parental Insights feature can provide information such as time spent on the platform and the characters a teenager interacts with most frequently, but it does not provide parents with the content of those conversations.

What should parents do with a child’s Character.AI account after a serious injury or death?

Parents should not delete the account, clear browser data, reset devices, or alter saved conversations. Preserve phones, computers, screenshots, account records, notifications, and any other material related to the child’s use of Character.AI until an attorney can evaluate what may be relevant.

Can Character.AI be liable even if the chatbot says it is fictional?

Potentially. A disclaimer may be one factor in a case, but attorneys may also examine the child’s age, how the chatbot behaved over time, whether it encouraged emotional dependency or harmful conduct, and whether the company provided reasonable protections for minors.

How much does it cost to contact Morgan & Morgan?

It costs nothing to speak to the helpful team at Morgan & Morgan. If we take your case, you pay nothing upfront, and we only receive a fee if we successfully recover compensation for you.

Hiring one of our lawyers is easy, and you can get started in minutes with a free case evaluation.