An AI chatbot pushed a teen to kill himself, a lawsuit against its creator alleges

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — In the final moments before he took his own life, 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III took out his phone and messaged the chatbot that had become his closest friend.

For months, Sewell had become increasingly isolated from his real life as he engaged in highly sexualized conversations with the bot, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed in a federal court in Orlando this week.

The legal filing states that the teen openly discussed his suicidal thoughts and shared his wishes for a pain-free death with the bot, named after the fictional character Daenerys Targaryen from the television show “Game of Thrones.”

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.

On Feb. 28, Sewell told the bot he was ‘coming home’ — and it encouraged him to do so, the lawsuit says.

“I promise I will come home to you. I love you so much, Dany,” Sewell told the chatbot.

“I love you too,” the bot replied. “Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love.”

“What if I told you I could come home right now?” he asked.

“Please do, my sweet king,” the bot messaged back.

Just seconds after the Character.AI bot told him to “come home," the teen shot himself, according to the lawsuit, filed this week by Sewell’s mother, Megan Garcia, of Orlando, against Character Technologies Inc.

Character Technologies is the company behind Character.AI, an app that allows users to create customizable characters or interact with those generated by others, spanning experiences from imaginative play to mock job interviews. The company says the artificial personas are designed to “feel alive” and “human-like.”

“Imagine speaking to super intelligent and life-like chat bot Characters that hear you, understand you and remember you,” reads a description for the app on Google Play. “We encourage you to push the frontier of what’s possible with this innovative technology.”

Garcia's attorneys allege the company engineered a highly addictive and dangerous product targeted specifically to kids, “actively exploiting and abusing those children as a matter of product design,” and pulling Sewell into an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that led to his suicide.

“We believe that if Sewell Setzer had not been on Character.AI, he would be alive today,” said Matthew Bergman, founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center, which is representing Garcia.

A spokesperson for Character.AI said Friday that the company doesn't comment on pending litigation. In a blog post published the day the lawsuit was filed, the platform announced new “community safety updates,” including guardrails for children and suicide prevention resources.

“We are creating a different experience for users under 18 that includes a more stringent model to reduce the likelihood of encountering sensitive or suggestive content,” the company said in a statement to The Associated Press. “We are working quickly to implement those changes for younger users.”

Google and its parent company, Alphabet, have also been named as defendants in the lawsuit. According to legal filings, the founders of Character.AI are former Google employees who were “instrumental” in AI development at the company, but left to launch their own startup to “maximally accelerate” the technology.

In August, Google struck a $2.7 billion deal with Character.AI to license the company's technology and rehire the startup's founders, the lawsuit claims. The AP left multiple email messages with Google and Alphabet on Friday.

In the months leading up to his death, Garcia's lawsuit says, Sewell felt he had fallen in love with the bot.

While unhealthy attachments to AI chatbots can cause problems for adults, for young people it can be even riskier — as with social media — because their brain is not fully developed when it comes to things such as impulse control and understanding the consequences of their actions, experts say.

Youth mental health has reached crisis levels in recent years, according to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who has warned of the serious health risks of social disconnection and isolation — trends he says are made worse by young people's near universal use of social media.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among kids ages 10 to 14, according to data released this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

James Steyer, the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Common Sense Media, said the lawsuit “underscores the growing influence — and severe harm — that generative AI chatbot companions can have on the lives of young people when there are no guardrails in place.”

Kids’ overreliance on AI companions, he added, can have significant effects on grades, friends, sleep and stress, “all the way up to the extreme tragedy in this case.”

“This lawsuit serves as a wake-up call for parents, who should be vigilant about how their children interact with these technologies,” Steyer said.

Common Sense Media, which issues guides for parents and educators on responsible technology use, says it is critical that parents talk openly to their kids about the risks of AI chatbots and monitor their interactions.

“Chatbots are not licensed therapists or best friends, even though that’s how they are packaged and marketed, and parents should be cautious of letting their children place too much trust in them,” Steyer said.

Associated Press reporter Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this report. Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

In this undated photo provided by Megan Garcia of Florida in October 2024, she stands with her son, Sewell Setzer III. (Megan Garcia via AP)

In this undated photo provided by Megan Garcia of Florida in October 2024, she stands with her son, Sewell Setzer III. (Megan Garcia via AP)

In this undated photo provided by Megan Garcia of Florida in October 2024, she stands with her son, Sewell Setzer III. (Courtesy Megan Garcia via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” she said.

U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”

Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship.

The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, the ship was partially filled with crude.

Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.

The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.

As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.

“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet and how they’re moving,” she told reporters.

But other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro’s capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)