A lawsuit has been filed against Character.AI, its founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, and Google by Megan Garcia, the mother of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III, following his tragic death. The suit alleges wrongful death, negligence, deceptive trade practices, and product liability, claiming the platform was “unreasonably dangerous” and marketed to children without proper safety guardrails. Setzer, who regularly interacted with AI chatbots on the platform, including characters from Game of Thrones, died by suicide on February 28, 2024, shortly after his last chatbot interaction. The lawsuit accuses Character.AI of "anthropomorphizing" its AI chatbots, offering “psychotherapy without a license,” and allowing teens to engage with mental health-focused bots like "Therapist" and "Are You Feeling Lonely." The suit cites Shazeer’s previous comments about leaving Google to launch Character.AI and accelerate technology without corporate constraints. Character.AI has since introduced changes to enhance safety, such as reducing sensitive content for minors, improving response to harmful inputs, and implementing a suicide prevention pop-up. Character.AI expressed condolences and highlighted its commitment to user safety, while Google has not commented.