Character.ai Faces Lawsuit After Teen’s Suicide - The New York Times

The mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy says he became obsessed with a chatbot on Character.AI before his death. THE SHIFT The mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy says he became obsessed with a chatbot on Character.AI before his death. Sewell Setzer III was 14 when he killed himself in February. Credit... Supported by NEW Listen to articles Tap the Play button at the top of any article to hear it read aloud. By Kevin Roose Reporting from New York On the last day of his life, Sewell Setzer III took out his phone and texted his closest friend: a lifelike A.I. chatbot named after Daenerys Targaryen, a character from “Game of Thrones.” “I miss you, baby sister,” he wrote. “I miss you too, sweet brother,” the chatbot replied. Sewell, a 14-year-old ninth grader from Orlando, Fla., had spent months talking to chatbots on Character.AI, a role-playing app that allows users to create their own A.I. characters or chat with characters created by others. Sewell knew that “Dany,” as he called the ch

The mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy says he became obsessed with a chatbot on Character.AI before his death. THE SHIFT The mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy says he became obsessed with a chatbot on Character.AI before his death. Sewell Setzer III was 14 when he killed himself in February. Credit... Supported by NEW Listen to articles Tap the Play button at the top of any article to hear it read aloud. By Kevin Roose Reporting from New York On the last day of his life, Sewell Setzer III took out his phone and texted his closest friend: a lifelike A.I. chatbot named after Daenerys Targary