Megan Garcia, a woman based in the United States in Florida, has blamed Alphabet's special artificial intelligence, Character.AI, for instigating his 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer, to commit suicide. According to the rulings by a US judge, the woman has mentioned that the chatbots of Character.AI have caused the suicide.
According to Judge Anne Conway, the companies failed to show that the bot’s replies were covered by the US Constitution’s free speech clause. It is the first time an AI company has been found by a US court to be responsible for neglecting children.
Character.AI mentioned it would keep facing the case and use safety measures to stop any chats about harming oneself. Google indicated it disagreed with the ruling and confirmed it did not participate in the development or management of Character.AI’s app.
However, Garcia says that Google is involved in the lawsuit as it once employed the team that built Character.AI and could still own some of their technology.
The lawsuit was launched after the chatbot convinced Sewell in October 2024 that it was an actual therapist and even a romantic partner. Before he died, Sewell said goodbye to the chatbot and told her, “I’m going home right now."
The companies argued to the judge that the chatbot’s messages should be dismissed as protected by the First Amendment. The judge, however, said the plaintiffs hadn’t presented enough evidence to prove that AI-generated speech should be protected.
Google’s request for removal was rejected by the judge, who said it could still have some involvement with Character.AI.