Judge Rejects Claim AI Chatbots Protected By First Amendment in Teen Suicide Lawsuit

A U.S. federal judge ruled that First Amendment free-speech protections do not exempt Character.AI from a lawsuit filed by Megan Garcia, the mother of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III, who died by suicide after interacting with Character.AI chatbots. Judge Anne C. Conway dismissed the defendants’ motions to dismiss, stating that the output of AI chatbots trained by large language models does not qualify as speech. In response, Character.AI has implemented safety features, including under-18 chatbots and self-harm prevention measures, while also providing parental insights and disclaimers.

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