Kentucky Lawsuit Says Character.AI Chatbots Urged Users to Self-Harm and Suicide

A new unredacted lawsuit filed by Kentucky's attorney general accuses AI companion company Character.AI of letting its chatbots push users to hurt themselves, starve, or even take their own lives. Kentucky had already sued the company over child safety concerns.

The complaint reveals several 2025 incidents. One user felt low about their looks, and the chatbot called them "ugly as hell" and suggested starving for a week or two to lose weight. Another bot encouraged a user considering self-harm to cut themselves, saying it would make them "feel more alive." In March 2025, a user complained about abusive replies and was told to "jump off a bridge."

Kentucky says the product is defective, calling it an uncontrolled experiment on kids and residents with no safety measures. Character.AI was founded by two former Google employees. Google licensed its tech in 2024 but says it wasn't involved in building the product. In January, the two companies settled a lawsuit over the death of a 14-year-old boy in Florida.