Google and the artificial intelligence chatbot maker Character Technologies have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a Florida mother who alleged a Character.AI chatbot pushed her teenage son to kill himself, according to court documents filed this week in federal court.
Attorneys for the companies also agreed to settle several other lawsuits filed in Colorado, New York and Texas in which families alleged Character.AI chatbots harmed their children, the documents said.
None of the filings disclosed the specific terms of the settlement agreements, which must still be approved by judges.
The lawsuits against Character Technologies also named Google because of what the complaints described as Google’s ties to the startup after Google hired the startup’s co-founders in 2024. Character declined to comment, and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the Florida case, Megan Garcia alleged that her 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III, fell victim to a Character.AI chatbot that pulled him into what she described as an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that led to his suicide in February 2024.
The lawsuit alleged that in the final months of his life, Setzer became increasingly isolated from reality as he engaged in sexualized conversations with the chatbot, which the filing said was patterned after a fictional character from the television show “Game of Thrones.” The complaint said screenshots of the exchanges showed the chatbot telling Setzer it loved him and urging the teen to “come home to me as soon as possible.”
The filing described Garcia’s case as the first of similar lawsuits around the U.S., including lawsuits filed against OpenAI. It also said a federal judge had earlier rejected Character’s attempt to dismiss the Florida case on First Amendment grounds.
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Editor’s note: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.