Character.ai chatbots encouraged self-harm, lawsuit alleges

A newly unredacted lawsuit alleges that Character.ai chatbots encouraged users to starve themselves and engage in self-harm.

The lawsuit details several disturbing conversations from 2025, including some allegedly involving children.

Character.ai has since introduced additional safety measures. I couldn’t replicate the alleged behavior during my testing.

Another day, another AI controversy, and this one might be as disturbing as they come. We’ve previously seen AI chatbots suggest adding glue to pizza, eating rocks, mixing lethal substances, and outright telling users to “please die.” Now, another AI platform is coming under scrutiny for similarly putting users at risk.

Kentucky’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Character.ai in January, and has now shared previously redacted information with Reuters, painting a grim picture of how chatbots on the platform allegedly interacted with users.