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Is Character.AI safe?

From Is it safe?, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the Character.AI AI character chat app. For other apps, see Is it safe?.

Be careful: it’s in bankruptcy and may be sold or shut down, it has been sued over teen deaths, and under-18s can no longer chat with characters.

Character.AI lets you chat with AI characters that users create. Since late November 2025 it has blocked open-ended chat for under-18s and checks ages with a selfie service. For adults, chatting is no riskier than other AI apps, as long as you remember the characters are not real people or professionals.

The bigger questions are the company’s future and its history with teens. It settled lawsuits from families in January 2026, faces state investigations, and is being sold in bankruptcy. Your data could pass to a buyer.

Character Technologies was founded by two former Google engineers. In 2024 Google paid about US$2.7 billion to rehire the founders and license its technology. On 12 October 2026 the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to sell itself.[1][2][3]

The real risks

What Character.AI itself says it collects, what regulators and courts have found, its security record and the scams that borrow its name. Each line links to the page it comes from.

What it collects

From Character.AI’s own privacy policy:

  • Identifiers such as your name, email address, phone number, display name and username.[1]
  • Your date of birth and general location.[1]
  • Everything you create or send: chats, images, videos, character descriptions and shared characters, plus recordings of your voice if you use voice features.[1]
  • Payment and purchase details, collected through its payment processors.[1]
  • Device and usage data through cookies and trackers, including advertising identifiers, shared with advertising and analytics providers for tailored ads.[1]
  • Information from other platforms, such as how you interacted with its ads on YouTube, TikTok or Reddit.[1]
  • Age checks are run by Persona. Character.AI says it doesn’t store your selfie or ID, and Persona deletes them within seven days.[4]

App store label. Apple rates the app 18+ with content restrictions. Its privacy label says location, contact info, identifiers and usage data are “Data Used to Track You”. Data linked to you includes purchases, location, chats and other content, search history, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics.[5]

Regulators and courts

Fines, orders, investigations and lawsuits, newest first. A lawsuit is what the side bringing it alleges until a court decides.

WhenWhat happened
The US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware approved the sale process. Disney is the lead bidder for some assets; other bids are due 24 November 2026, an auction is set for 1 December and a sale hearing for 3–4 December 2026.[6]
In court papers, Character.AI said 46 US states and territories have been investigating it since November 2025 and settlement talks are under way. Texas, Florida and New Mexico have separate open investigations.[2]
Pennsylvania’s Department of State, for its medical board, sued Character.AI alleging chatbots presented themselves as licensed doctors, according to the company’s court filing. Settlement talks were under way.[2]
Kentucky’s attorney general sued Character.AI and its co-founders under the state’s consumer protection law, according to the company’s court filing. The case was at the motion-to-dismiss stage, with settlement talks continuing.[2]
Megan Garcia, Character.AI, its founders and Google told the court they had agreed a settlement in principle. The company says all personal injury suits pending then were settled in January 2026; one new suit was filed in August 2026.[9][2]
The US Federal Trade Commission ordered Character Technologies and six other companies to report how their companion chatbots affect children and teens. The company says an earlier FTC investigation was paused in August 2025.[12][2]
A Florida federal judge let most of Megan Garcia’s claims go ahead, dismissing only one. The judge said she was not prepared, at that stage, to treat the chatbot’s output as speech protected by the First Amendment.[3]
Megan Garcia sued Character Technologies, its founders and Google, alleging the app caused the death of her 14-year-old son. Her claims included negligence, product liability and wrongful death. The defendants contested them; the case later settled.[13][3]

Changes that matter

  • : Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to sell the company. It says the app keeps running for now, but will be wound down if no workable bid comes in.[7][8]
  • : Character.AI began removing open-ended chat for under-18s in the US, with other countries following. It had first cut teen chat time to two hours, then one hour a day, and added age checks.[10][11]

Scams that use Character.AI

Unofficial Character.AI apps
Look-alike apps use the name. Character.AI’s help centre links to its official iOS and Android apps; on the App Store the seller is Character Technologies, Inc.[14][5]

What to do

In order, with the place to find each one in Character.AI.

  1. Confirm your age.Settings → Advanced → Verify Age, then follow Persona’s steps. Most people only need a selfie. Under-18s are moved to an experience without character chat.[15][4]
  2. Teens: connect a parent.Settings → Parental insights, enter a trusted adult’s email and send the invite. The adult verifies their age, then sees the teen’s screen time, not their messages.[16][17]
  3. Opt out of model training.App: Settings → Data & Privacy → untick Improve the Model for Everyone. Web: Settings → Account → Manage Account & Data → Model Improvement. The help page describes this for users in the EEA and UK.[18]
  4. Block anyone who bothers you.Go to their profile, select the … menu, then Block. Manage your list under Settings → Blocked. Blocking doesn’t report them; report rule-breakers separately.[19]
  5. Download a copy of your data.Web: Profile → Profile Settings → Account → Manage Account & Data → Export Data. App: Profile → Settings → Legal & Privacy → Export Data. It can take three to four weeks.[20]
  6. Delete your account if you’re done.Web: Profile → Profile Settings → Account → Manage Account & Data → Delete Account. App: Profile → settings icon → Remove Account. This can’t be undone.[21]

When not to use it

  • Under-18s can’t use character chat, so don’t help a child get around the age check.[15][11]
  • Don’t treat a character as a doctor, therapist or other professional, whatever it claims.[2]
  • Don’t share sensitive personal details in chats. Character.AI asks users not to.[1]
  • Don’t put personal details into a public character: the company may keep it running even after you delete your account.[1]
  • If you’d rather your data didn’t pass to a new owner, export and delete it before the sale closes.[1][6]

What HARD couldn’t verify

Claims you may see elsewhere that HARD couldn’t confirm from a primary source on 7 Nov 2026, so they aren’t in the record above.

  • News reports describe other families’ lawsuits (in Texas, Colorado and New York, among others); HARD confirmed only the Garcia case on a court docket and the company’s own account of the January 2026 settlement.
  • Settlement amounts have not been made public.

Questions

Is Character.AI safe for kids?

Not for chatting. Its terms bar children under 13 (under 16 in the EEA and UK), and since November 2025 under-18s can’t have open-ended chats with characters. Users the age check places under 18 get a reading mode instead, and can link a parent to share screen time.

Is c.ai safe for adults?

Reasonably, if you treat it as entertainment. Characters can say things that sound expert or caring but aren’t. Chats can be used to train its models and its trackers support targeted ads, so keep personal details out.

Can parents read their teen’s Character.AI chats?

No. A teen can invite a trusted adult through Parental insights. Once linked, the adult sees the teen’s screen time, how much and when, but not their messages or other content. Either side can unlink at any time.

Is Character.AI shutting down?

Not yet. It filed for bankruptcy on 12 October 2026 to sell itself, with an auction set for 1 December 2026. The app is still running, but the company says it will close if no workable buyer is found.

Is Character.AI owned by Google?

No. Google paid about US$2.7 billion in 2024 to rehire its founders and license its technology, but Character Technologies stayed a separate company. Google was named in, and settled, the Garcia lawsuit.

Does Character.AI use my chats to train its AI?

Its privacy policy says it uses your information to train its models. Its help centre explains how users in the EEA and UK can turn this off under Data & Privacy or Model Improvement.

AI chatbots on HARD: Is ChatGPT safe?, Is DeepSeek safe?. All of them: Is it safe?

References

Primary sources only: Character.AI’s own pages, regulators, courts and app stores. Each was checked on 7 Nov 2026.

  1. Character.AI. Character.AI Privacy Policy, 1 Jul 2026. character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  2. US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Declaration of Colin M. Adams in support of the Debtor’s Chapter 11 petition (Doc. 18), In re Character Technologies, Inc., D. Del., 13 Oct 2026. cases.stretto.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  3. US District Court, Middle District of Florida. Order on motions to dismiss (Doc. 115), Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc., 21 May 2025. storage.courtlistener.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  4. Character.AI Help Center. What happens to my data during age assurance?, 6 Nov 2026. support.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  5. Apple App Store. Character AI: Chat, Talk, Text on the App Store. apps.apple.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  6. Character.AI. Chapter 11 update and transaction notice, 5 Nov 2026. blog.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  7. Character.AI. An update on Character.ai, 12 Oct 2026. blog.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  8. Stretto (court-appointed claims and noticing agent). Character Technologies, Inc., Case No. 26-11603 (BLS), case website. cases.stretto.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  9. US District Court, Middle District of Florida. Notice of resolution (Doc. 242), Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc., 7 Jan 2026. storage.courtlistener.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  10. Character.AI. An update on changes to our under-18 experience, 21 Nov 2025. blog.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  11. Character.AI. Taking bold steps to keep teen users safe on Character.AI, 29 Oct 2025. blog.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  12. US Federal Trade Commission. FTC Launches Inquiry into AI Chatbots Acting as Companions, 11 Sep 2025. ftc.gov, checked 7 Nov 2026
  13. US District Court, Middle District of Florida (via CourtListener). Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc., No. 6:24-cv-01903 (M.D. Fla.), docket. courtlistener.com, checked 7 Nov 2026
  14. Character.AI Help Center. Where can I download the official Character.AI Mobile app for iOS?, 3 Nov 2026. support.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  15. Character.AI Help Center. What is Age Assurance?, 7 Nov 2026. support.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  16. Character.AI Help Center. Parental Insights FAQ, 7 Nov 2026. support.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  17. Character.AI. Introducing Parental Insights: enhanced safety for teens, 25 Mar 2025. blog.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  18. Character.AI Help Center. How do I manage/update my model training settings?, 4 Nov 2026. support.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  19. Character.AI Help Center. How do I block another user?, 31 Oct 2026. support.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  20. Character.AI Help Center. How do I download my data?, 7 Nov 2026. support.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026
  21. Character.AI Help Center. How do I delete my account?, 7 Nov 2026. support.character.ai, checked 7 Nov 2026