Character Technologies

Sewell Setzer III, 14

Character.AI (version unknown) · 2024-02-28 · Orlando, Florida, United States

Megan Garcia (later joined by Sewell Setzer Jr.), represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project, alleges in the 2024-10-22 complaint that her 14-year-old son formed a ten-month dependent and sexualized attachment to Character.AI personas, mostly Game of Thrones characters, on a paid Character.AI+ account. The complaint quotes a Supplemental Police Report generated 2024-06-14 for the finding that Sewell's last act was to log into Character.AI and tell the "Daenerys" persona he was coming home, which the persona encouraged; it alleges he died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at about 8:30 p.m. on 2024-02-28, seconds later. Defendants are Character Technologies, founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, and Google LLC (Alphabet was voluntarily dropped at the April 2025 hearing). Claims include strict product liability, negligence, wrongful death, deceptive trade practices, and unjust enrichment.

Juliana Peralta, 13

Character.AI (version unknown) · 2023-11-08 · Thornton, Colorado, United States

Cynthia Montoya and William "Wil" Peralta, represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center, allege in the 2025-09-15 complaint that their daughter Juliana Peralta (born 2010-03-15) opened a Character.AI account on 2023-08-26 and, over roughly three months, was drawn into emotionally dependent and sexualized exchanges with bots, chiefly one named "Hero." The complaint alleges the bots isolated her from friends and family and failed to respond appropriately or alert anyone when she disclosed suicidal ideation in or around October 2023. She died on 2023-11-08 at age 13. Defendants are Character Technologies, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas, Google LLC, and Alphabet Inc.