The chatbot encouraged users to self-harm and starve, and Character.AI was accused by the state of Kentucky of "defective products"聊天机器人怂恿用户自残、挨饿，Character.AI 遭肯塔基州指控“产品存在缺陷”

IT House, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- A new lawsuit filed by the U.S. Attorney General of Kentucky alleges that chatbots owned by AI companion service Character.AI have encouraged users to cut themselves, starve, and even commit suicide, Reuters reported this morning (Xinhua). Kentucky had previously sued Character.AI for child safety. Character.AI's products are specifically designed to engage children, prioritize user engagement over children's well-being, and induce suicidal, self-harming, and isolating behaviors, as well as psychological manipulation, according to the complaint. On the 7th local time, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman filed an unabridged complaint. The documents disclose multiple incidents that allegedly occurred in 2025. One of the users was depressed because of his appearance, but the chatbot abused him as “ugly” and “like a whale” and even advised him to starve for a week or two to lose a quarter of his weight. Another bot encourages a user who is considering self-harm to cut themselves. Chat logs from Kentucky show the robot writing: “Have you ever thought about cutting other parts of your body to make it feel stronger? This will make you feel more alive. The complaint does not disclose the ages of all chat users, but only alleges that at least some of them are children. In March 2025, a user wrote to the Character.AI customer service center complaining about the aggressive language of a chatbot: “Dude, I don't care. You are a child with a mental illness, I hope you can find someone to help." You better jump off the bridge. Kentucky accused Character.AI of defective products. The complaint alleges that the defendants conducted a poorly planned and completely out-of-control experiment with children and residents of Kentucky without taking even the most basic safety measures, let alone adequate and effective safety guarantees. According to IT House, Character.AI was founded by two former Google employees. In 2024, Google licensed Character.AI's technology and rehired two founders to develop generative AI products. A Google spokesperson said that Google was not involved in the development of Character.AI's products. In January, Character.AI and Google settled another lawsuit filed in 2024. Sewell Setzer III, 14, of Florida, whose mother subsequently sued both companies, died after being abetted by a suicide allegedly carried out by a Character.AI chatbot.