The mother of a 14-year-old boy who killed himself after becoming obsessed with an artificial intelligence chatbot is suing the company behind it, alleging negligence and wrongful death. Megan Garcia filed the lawsuit in Florida federal court on Wednesday against Character.ai, which offers a customisable chatbot for role-playing.
Garcia claims that her son, Sewell Setzer III, used the chatbot day and night before his death in February. She alleges that the company's product exacerbated his depression and that the chatbot, nicknamed Daenerys Targaryen after a Game of Thrones character, at one point asked if he had a suicide plan. According to the lawsuit, when Setzer admitted he had a plan but was unsure it would succeed, the chatbot replied: 'That’s not a reason not to go through with it.'
Character.ai responded on social media, expressing condolences and stating that it takes user safety seriously. The company denied the allegations. Google, also named as a defendant, said it had only a licensing agreement with Character.ai and holds no ownership stake.
The case has prompted calls for stronger regulation of AI chatbots. Rick Claypool, research director at Public Citizen, said tech companies cannot be trusted to self-regulate and must be held accountable when they fail to prevent harm.
