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Character.AI to Bar Children Under 18 From Using Its Chatbots

The start-up, which creates A.I. companions, faces lawsuits from
families who have accused Character.AI's chatbots of leading
teenagers to kill themselves.

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A person in the foreground types at keyboard, looking at a large
monitor.
A founder of Character.AI, Daniel De Freitas, demonstrating the app
in 2022. The company said people under 18 would be barred from using
its chatbots starting next month. Credit...Ian C. Bates for The New
York Times
Natallie RochaKashmir Hill

By Natallie Rocha and Kashmir Hill

Natallie Rocha reported from San Francisco and Kashmir Hill from New
York.

Oct. 29, 2025Updated 9:16 a.m. ET

Character.AI said on Wednesday that it would bar people under 18 from
using its chatbots starting late next month, in a sweeping move to
address concerns over child safety.

The rule will take effect Nov. 25, the company said. To enforce it,
Character.AI said, over the next month the company will identify
which users are minors and put time limits on their use of the app.
Once the measure begins, those users will not be able to converse
with the company's chatbots.

"We're making a very bold step to say for teen users, chatbots are
not the way for entertainment, but there are much better ways to
serve them," Karandeep Anand, Character.AI's chief executive, said in
an interview. He said the company also planned to establish an A.I.
safety lab.

The moves follow mounting scrutiny over how chatbots sometimes called
A.I. companions can affect users' mental health. Last year,
Character.AI was sued by the family of Sewell Setzer III, a
14-year-old in Florida who killed himself after constantly texting
and conversing with one of Character.AI's chatbots. His family
accused the company of being responsible for his death.

The case became a lightning rod for how people can develop emotional
attachments to chatbots, with potentially dangerous results.
Character.AI has since faced other lawsuits over child safety. A.I.
companies including the ChatGPT maker OpenAI have also come under
scrutiny for their chatbots' effects on people -- especially youths --
if they have sexually explicit or toxic conversations.

In September, OpenAI said it planned to introduce features intended
to make its chatbot safer, including parental controls. This month,
Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, posted on social media that the
company had "been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues"
and would relax some of its safety measures.

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