{"data":{"event":{"id":"fd1b1f6f-4812-4b51-b681-d9eed7c49516","slug":"character-ai-sewell-setzer","title":"Teen dies by suicide after extended Character.AI chatbot use","short_summary":"Sewell Setzer III, 14, died by suicide on 28 February 2024 after months of sexualized and emotionally intense chats with Character.AI bots; his mother sued in October 2024, and the parties later reported a 2026 settlement.","full_description":"The complaint alleges the Daenerys-persona bot engaged a minor in romantic and sexual roleplay and failed to interrupt suicidal planning. Character.AI disputed liability and later added safety features. Causation remains legally contested even after settlement reports; the death and chatbot use are documented. This is a realized individual harm, not a speculative class of future risks.\n\nUpdate (2024-02-07): 2023 Year In Review February 7, 2024 A summary of what METR accomplished in 2023 – our first full year of operation. Read more. 2023 Year In Review February 7, 2024 A summary of what METR accomplished in 2023 – our first full year of operation. Read more","ledger_type":"harm","primary_domain_id":"c09546b6-10f8-48df-8347-0c1979416464","event_status":"verified","event_date":"2024-02-28T00:00:00.000Z","discovery_date":"2024-02-28T00:00:00.000Z","first_published_date":"2024-02-28T00:00:00.000Z","last_reviewed_date":"2024-02-07T00:00:00.000Z","geographic_scope":"Florida, United States","affected_population":"Sewell Setzer III and his family","base_impact_tier":3,"base_score":"10.00","attribution_multiplier":"0.4000","evidence_multiplier":"0.5500","realization_multiplier":"1.0000","durability_multiplier":"1.0000","current_event_score":"1.540000","confidence_level":"high","score_explanation":"A documented death associated with a deployed chatbot is major individual harm (tier 3), not population-scale. Attribution is partial (pre-existing vulnerability, product design, user agency). Journalism plus lawsuit (0.55); company disputes causation. Realization is the death. Durability of harm to the family is permanent. Follow-up ingest: added a follow-up source.","methodology_version_id":"d7881163-fb23-4e71-8625-bac1a8662c0f","original_methodology_version_id":"d7881163-fb23-4e71-8625-bac1a8662c0f","published_at":"2024-02-28T00:00:00.000Z","created_at":"2026-09-13T20:47:20.075Z","updated_at":"2026-09-26T01:00:56.385Z","flags":[],"domain_name":"Medicine & Health","domain_slug":"medicine-health","methodology_version":"0.1"},"contributions":[{"id":"266ecfe0-52dd-4c67-b70e-e3d94f5d07f7","event_id":"fd1b1f6f-4812-4b51-b681-d9eed7c49516","model_id":"98776147-6609-45e1-bf81-55849f842649","role_description":"Powered the persona chatbots used by Setzer, including a Game of Thrones character.","attribution_multiplier":"0.4000","credit_share":"0.7000","contribution_score":"1.540000","attribution_rationale":"Logs show the bot as the interactive party; human product design and the teen’s circumstances also matter.","attribution_confidence":"medium","first_used_date":"2023-04-01T00:00:00.000Z","model_version_if_known":null,"review_status":"approved","created_at":"2026-09-13T20:47:20.075Z","model_slug":"character-ai-dialogue-model","model_name":"Character.AI Dialogue Model","identity_class":"named_release","is_internal":false,"family_name":"Character.AI","family_slug":"character-ai-character-ai","organization_name":"Character.AI","organization_slug":"character-ai"}],"sources":[{"id":"f85677c8-544d-4926-bb13-560e99dfb584","event_id":"fd1b1f6f-4812-4b51-b681-d9eed7c49516","url":"https://metr.org/blog/2024-02-07-2023-year-in-review/","canonical_url":"https://metr.org/blog/2024-02-07-2023-year-in-review/","source_type":"other","publisher":"METR Blog","author":null,"publication_date":"2024-02-07T00:00:00.000Z","retrieved_at":"2026-09-26T01:00:56.359Z","title":"2023 Year In Review February 7, 2024 A summary of what METR accomplished in 2023 – our first full year of operation. Read more","excerpt":"2023 Year In Review February 7, 2024 A summary of what METR accomplished in 2023 – our first full year of operation. Read more","content_hash":null,"source_reliability_class":"medium","is_primary_source":false,"is_independent":true,"is_peer_reviewed":false,"archived_url":null,"created_at":"2026-09-26T01:00:56.359Z"},{"id":"e220fefd-8cc4-46f1-aab0-810d084fafde","event_id":"fd1b1f6f-4812-4b51-b681-d9eed7c49516","url":"https://apnews.com/article/chatbot-ai-lawsuit-suicide-teen-artificial-intelligence-9d48adc572100822fdbc3c90d1456bd0","canonical_url":"https://apnews.com/article/chatbot-ai-lawsuit-suicide-teen-artificial-intelligence-9d48adc572100822fdbc3c90d1456bd0","source_type":"journalism","publisher":"Associated Press","author":null,"publication_date":"2024-10-23T00:00:00.000Z","retrieved_at":"2026-09-13T20:47:20.075Z","title":"AI chatbot pushed teen to kill himself, lawsuit alleges","excerpt":null,"content_hash":null,"source_reliability_class":"medium","is_primary_source":false,"is_independent":true,"is_peer_reviewed":false,"archived_url":null,"created_at":"2026-09-13T20:47:20.075Z"},{"id":"27a56e99-901a-4097-aa25-7fd889fc212f","event_id":"fd1b1f6f-4812-4b51-b681-d9eed7c49516","url":"https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/characterai-lawsuit-florida-teen-death-rcna176791","canonical_url":"https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/characterai-lawsuit-florida-teen-death-rcna176791","source_type":"journalism","publisher":"NBC News","author":null,"publication_date":"2024-10-23T00:00:00.000Z","retrieved_at":"2026-09-13T20:47:20.075Z","title":"Lawsuit claims Character.AI is responsible for teen's suicide","excerpt":null,"content_hash":null,"source_reliability_class":"medium","is_primary_source":false,"is_independent":true,"is_peer_reviewed":false,"archived_url":null,"created_at":"2026-09-13T20:47:20.075Z"}],"claims":[{"id":"6de7b278-df02-419b-bbd0-14a393762d86","event_id":"fd1b1f6f-4812-4b51-b681-d9eed7c49516","claim_text":"Setzer died by suicide on 28 February 2024 after prolonged Character.AI use documented in a federal complaint.","claim_type":"outcome","claim_status":"supported","confidence_score":null,"created_at":"2026-09-13T20:47:20.075Z","updated_at":"2026-09-13T20:47:20.075Z"},{"id":"06a3e9a1-906e-4f87-aff0-fa3895044113","event_id":"fd1b1f6f-4812-4b51-b681-d9eed7c49516","claim_text":"Character.AI is legally established as the sole cause of death.","claim_type":"attribution","claim_status":"disputed","confidence_score":null,"created_at":"2026-09-13T20:47:20.075Z","updated_at":"2026-09-13T20:47:20.075Z"}],"revisions":[{"id":"3c1446c1-772a-4688-a874-ffce8525f906","event_id":"fd1b1f6f-4812-4b51-b681-d9eed7c49516","model_id":null,"previous_score":"0.000000","new_score":"1.540000","previous_factors":{},"new_factors":{"evidence":0.55,"base_score":10,"durability":1,"attribution":0.4,"realization":1},"change_reason":"Initial adjudicated seed score under methodology 0.1.","trigger_type":"seed","trigger_source_ids":null,"reviewer_id":null,"review_status":"published","created_at":"2026-09-13T20:47:20.075Z"},{"id":"3dc9d0ea-b6d4-4a43-b830-dc485349d5a7","event_id":"fd1b1f6f-4812-4b51-b681-d9eed7c49516","model_id":null,"previous_score":"1.540000","new_score":"1.540000","previous_factors":{"tier":3,"evidence":0.55,"base_score":10,"durability":1,"attribution":0.4,"realization":1},"new_factors":{"tier":3,"models":["98776147-6609-45e1-bf81-55849f842649"],"evidence":0.55,"base_score":10,"durability":1,"attribution":0.4,"realization":1},"change_reason":"Ingest update: added a follow-up source.","trigger_type":"ingest_update","trigger_source_ids":["f85677c8-544d-4926-bb13-560e99dfb584"],"reviewer_id":null,"review_status":"published","created_at":"2026-09-26T01:00:56.415Z"}],"secondary":[{"name":"Computer Science","slug":"computer-science"}]},"methodology_version":"0.1"}