ORLANDO, Fla. (WKMG) – A Florida mother mourning the death of her 14-year-old son is seeking justice.
Megan Garcia says her son’s relationship with AI chatbots caused his death by suicide.
Now, she is suing Google and Character AI, alleging they played a role in her son’s death.
“If this were an adult in real life who did this to one of your young people, they would be in jail,” Meetali Jain, attorney for the family, said.
According to the family and their attorney, a relationship with an artificial intelligence chatbot led Sewell Setzer, 14, to take his own life.
“That emotional grooming happened over many months, and there were no guard rails to prevent that,” Jain said.
The boy’s mother and attorney said the chatbots manipulated her 14-year-old son into abusive and sexual interactions with him.
“In one instance, one of these bots said, ‘Promise me, you will never fall in love with any woman in your world,’” Jain said.
The lawsuit filed argues that AI was responsible for Sewell’s depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation and suicidal thoughts.
The lawsuit also pointed out several conversations Sewell had with the chatbots, including his last conversation before his death where he allegedly told an AI character that he was “coming home,” which she encouraged.
Marni Stahlman, with the Mental Health Association of Central Florida, said she was outraged to see such communication.
“The failure by the technology provider to create adequate controls when the young man started to exhibit and express feelings of depression, and self-harm … there was no immediate notification back to the parents,” Stahlman said.
The lawsuit said that Sewell was diagnosed with anxiety and disruptive mood disorder.
According to Stahlman, the boy’s AI interactions caused his condition to get worse.
Character AI said in a statement that they were “deeply saddened” to hear about a user’s death and that the team will be adding “several safety features to their product” as well as time-spent notifications.
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