Placing Blame A grieving mother claims an AI chatbot not only convinced her teen son to commit suicide, but also pushed him into the act when he expressed hesitance. As The Guardian reports, Florida mom Megan Garcia has filed a lawsuit against the chatbot firm Character.

A Florida mother has sued artificial intelligence chatbot startup Character.AI accusing it of causing her 14-year-old son's suicide in February, saying he became addicted to the company's service and deeply attached to a chatbot it created.

Sewell Setzer III had professed his love for the chatbot he often interacted with - his mother Megan Garcia says in a civil lawsuit

As Setzer became obsessed with his chatbot fantasy life, he disconnected from reality, her complaint said. Detecting a shift in her son, Garcia repeatedly took Setzer to a therapist, who diagnosed her son with anxiety and disruptive mood disorder.