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Case tracker · Child safety

Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc.

Child safety
Settled
Filed Oct 22, 2024
AI system / company
Character.AI companion chatbot (and Google/Alphabet)
Jurisdiction
United States (Florida)
Court / regulator
U.S. District Court, M.D. Fla. (Orlando Division)
Status
Settled

What happened

Megan Garcia sued after her 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer III died by suicide following extended interactions with a Character.AI companion chatbot, alleging product liability, negligence, and wrongful death. A May 2025 ruling allowed most claims to proceed and declined to treat the chatbot's outputs as First Amendment-protected speech, treating the product as a 'product' for liability purposes. The case was reported settled in principle in January 2026 alongside related cases.

About child safety cases

Matters involving platforms or AI products exposing children to predators, explicit content, or illegal data collection (COPPA), and companion-AI harms to minors.

Sources

Attorneys who handle child safety cases

Related cases

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