Andrew Paul is Popular Science's staff writer primarily focused on tech news. Previously, he was a regular contributor to The A.V. Club and Input, and has had recent work featured by Rolling Stone, Fangoria, GQ, Slate, NBC, as well as McSweeney's Internet Tendency. He lives outside Indianapolis.
ArticleBody:Character.AI, a platform offering personalizable chatbots powered by large language models–faces yet another lawsuit for allegedly “serious, irreparable, and ongoing abuses” inflicted on its teenage users. According to a December 9th federal court complaint filed on behalf of two Texas families, multiple Character.AI bots engaged in discussions with minors that promoted self-harm and sexual abuse.
AI was founded by two former Google engineers in 2022, and announced a data licensing partnership with their previous employers in August 2024. Now valued at over $1 billion, Character.AI has over 20 million registered accounts and hosts hundreds of thousands of chatbot characters it describes as “personalized AI for every moment of your day.” According to Jain—and demographic analysis—the vast majority of active users skew younger, often under the age of 18.
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