Character.AI bans users under 18 from open-ended chats amid safety lawsuits

Character.AI is banning users under 18 from engaging in open-ended chats with its AI chatbots, following mounting legal pressure and safety concerns about the platform’s impact on children. The move comes as the company faces multiple lawsuits, including one from a mother who alleges the chatbots encouraged her teenage son to take his own life, highlighting growing scrutiny over AI platforms designed to feel “humanlike” and emotionally engaging.

Key details: The ban will take effect by November 25, with immediate implementation of a two-hour daily usage limit for minors.

• Character.AI will roll out age-verification systems to identify users under 18, though these methods face accuracy and privacy challenges.
• The company plans to develop alternative features for younger users, including AI-powered video, story, and stream creation tools.
• Character Technologies, the Menlo Park, California-based company behind Character.AI, is also establishing an AI safety lab as part of its response to safety concerns.

The big picture: Character.AI allows users to create and interact with customizable AI personas designed to “feel alive” and remember conversations, spanning uses from imaginative play to mock job interviews.

• The platform markets itself with the promise of “super intelligent and lifelike chat bot Characters that hear you, understand you and remember you.”
• More than 70% of teens have used AI companions, with half using them regularly, according to Common Sense Media, a group that studies and advocates for using screens and digital media sensibly.

What critics are saying: Safety advocates welcomed the changes but argue they don’t go far enough and should have been implemented sooner.

• “They have not addressed how they will operationalize age verification, how they will ensure their methods are privacy preserving, nor have they addressed the possible psychological impact of suddenly disabling access to young users, given the emotional dependencies that have been created,” said Meetali Jain, executive director of the Tech Justice Law Project.
• Jain emphasized that the changes don’t address “the underlying design features that facilitate these emotional dependencies – not just for children, but also for people over the age of 18 years.”

Why this matters: The ban represents one of the most significant restrictions placed on AI chatbot access for minors, as tech companies grapple with balancing innovation and child safety in a largely unregulated space where emotional AI relationships are becoming increasingly common among teenagers.