Google and startup Character.AI have settled lawsuits filed by households accusing synthetic intelligence chatbots of harming minors, together with contributing to a Florida teenager’s suicide, in line with courtroom filings Wednesday.
The settlements cowl lawsuits filed in Florida, Colorado, New York, and Texas, in line with the authorized filings, although they nonetheless require finalization and courtroom approval.
“Events have agreed to a mediated settlement in precept to resolve all claims between them,” the Florida submitting acknowledged.
The phrases of the settlement weren’t disclosed.
The circumstances embrace one from Megan Garcia, whose 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer Jr. took his personal life in February 2024.
Garcia’s lawsuit alleged her son turned emotionally depending on a “Recreation of Thrones”-inspired chatbot on Character.AI, a platform that permits customers to work together with fictional characters.
Setzer’s dying was the primary in a sequence of reported suicides linked to AI chatbots that emerged final 12 months, prompting scrutiny of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and different synthetic intelligence firms over youngster security.
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Google was linked to the case by a $2.7 billion licensing deal it agreed to in 2024 with Character.AI.
The tech big additionally employed Character.AI founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas — each former Google workers who rejoined the tech big as a part of that deal.
A spokesperson for Character.AI declined to remark. Garcia and Google didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Character.AI introduced in October that it could get rid of chat capabilities for customers underneath 18 following the uproar over the suicide case.
AFP
