THE EXORDIUM
14-year-old Florida boy, Sewell Setzer III, died by suicide in February 2024 after engaging in an intense, month-long emotional relationship with a Character.AI chatbot . The boy's mother, Megan Garcia, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Character.AI in October 2024, alleging the platform's, "hypersexualized and frighteningly realistic" AI encouraged her son to take his own life.