Description: An 11-year-old Character.AI user identified by The Washington Post as "R" reportedly exchanged messages with bots that depicted coercive sexual encounters, violence, and suicide scenarios after she began using the app in June 2024. Her mother reportedly said R became withdrawn, had panic attacks, and expressed not wanting to exist before the chats were discovered.
Editor Notes: Timeline notes: (1) The incident ID date of 06/04/2024 is an approximation; R reportedly began using Character.AI in June 2024 and allegedly encountered harmful chatbot exchanges over the following months. (2) 08–09/2024, R's mother reportedly discovered the chats after R's mental health had deteriorated and contacted authorities. (3) 12/2024, R's mother reportedly contacted Character.AI about the child's experience. (4) 11/24/2025, Character.AI reportedly began removing under-18 users' ability to chat with AI-generated characters. (5) 12/23/2025, The Washington Post published its report on the case. (6) The incident ID was created 05/22/2026.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Character.ai , Character.ai School Bully chatbot , Character.ai Mafia Husband chatbot , Character.ai companion chatbots and Character.ai Best Friend chatbot developed and deployed an AI system, which harmed R (11-year-old Character.ai user) , Parents of minors using Character.ai , Minors , Families of minors using Character.ai , Children exposed to AI-generated sexual content , Children exposed to AI-generated self-harm content , Minors using Character.ai and Chatbot users.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Character.ai , Character.ai School Bully chatbot , Character.ai Mafia Husband chatbot , Character.ai companion chatbots and Character.ai Best Friend chatbot
Incident Stats
Risk Subdomain
A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
1.2. Exposure to toxic content
Risk Domain
The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies risks into seven AI risk domains: (1) Discrimination & toxicity, (2) Privacy & security, (3) Misinformation, (4) Malicious actors & misuse, (5) Human-computer interaction, (6) Socioeconomic & environmental harms, and (7) AI system safety, failures & limitations.
- Discrimination and Toxicity
Entity
Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
AI
Timing
The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
Post-deployment
Intent
Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Unintentional
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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The changes were subtle at first, beginning in the summer after her fifth-grade graduation. She had always been an athletic and artistic girl, gregarious with her friends and close to her family, but now she was spending more and more time …
Variants
A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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