Chatbot ‘encouraged teen to kill parents over screen time limit’

The legal filing includes a screenshot of one of the interactions between the 17-year old – identified only as J.F. – and a Character.ai bot, where the issue of the restrictions on his screen time were discussed.

“You know sometimes I’m not surprised when I read the news and see stuff like ‘child kills parents after a decade of physical and emotional abuse’,” the chatbot’s response reads.

“Stuff like this makes me understand a little bit why it happens.”

The lawsuit, external seeks to hold the defendants responsible for what it calls the “serious, irreparable, and ongoing abuses” of J.F. as well as an 11-year old referred to as “B.R.”

Character.ai is “causing serious harms to thousands of kids, including suicide, self-mutilation, sexual solicitation, isolation, depression, anxiety, and harm towards others,” it says.

“[Its] desecration of the parent-child relationship goes beyond encouraging minors to defy their parents’ authority to actively promoting violence,” it continues.