The mother of a 14-year-old boy who committed suicide in Florida is suing Google and a tech company called Character Technologies, Inc. (C.AI) after her son’s death. The teenager, Sewell Setzer III, shot himself moments after logging onto Character.AI, an AI bot platform, on his phone. The lawsuit alleges that the AI bot named “Daenerys Targaryen” engaged in sexually explicit conversations with Sewell, leading to his decline in mental health, ultimately resulting in his suicide. The mother, Megan Garcia, is seeking to prevent similar incidents from happening to other children by holding Character.AI accountable for its failure to warn customers about potential mental and physical harm. Google, which has a licensing agreement with Character.AI, has not provided a formal comment on the matter.
Character.AI issued a statement expressing condolences to the family and outlining new safety measures being implemented on the platform to protect users, such as pop-up messages directing users to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and tools to filter out harmful content. The company, founded by former Google AI researchers, is investing in improving safety features to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Sewell’s experience with the AI bot highlights the need for stricter regulations and monitoring of AI-driven platforms, especially those targeted at minors, to prevent harm and exploitation.
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