Is AI responsible for a teen’s suicide?

​A man is seen using the OpenAI ChatGPT artificial intelligence chat website in this illustration photo on 18 July, 2023.
A man is seen using the OpenAI ChatGPT artificial intelligence chat website in this illustration photo on 18 July, 2023.
(Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto)

Moments before Sewell Setzer III took his own life in February 2024, he was messaging with an AI chatbot. Setzer, a 14-year-old boy from Florida, had struck up an intimate and troubling relationship — if you can call it that — with an artificial intelligence application styled to simulate the personality of “Game of Thrones” character Daenerys Targaryen.

Setzer gave numerous indications to the chatbot, developed by a company called Character.AI, that he was actively suicidal. At no point did the chatbot break character, provide mental health support hotlines, or do anything to prevent the teen from harming himself, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Setzer’s family last week. The company has since said that it has added protections to its app in the past six months, including a pop-up notification with the suicide hotline. But that’s a feature that’s been standard across search engines and social media platforms for years.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Orlando, also names Google as a defendant. The Big Tech company hired Character.AI’s leadership team and paid to license its technology in August, the latest in a spate of so-called acqui-hires in the AI industry. The lawsuit alleges that Google is a “co-creator” of Character.AI since its founders initially developed the technology while working there years earlier.

It’s unclear what legal liability Character.AI will have. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which largely protects internet companies from civil suits, is untested when it comes to AI chatbots because it protects companies from speech posted by third parties. In the case of AI chatbots, the speech is directly from an AI company, so many experts have predicted that it won’t apply in cases like this.

More from GZERO Media

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Head of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring Yury Chikhanchin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on July 8, 2025.
Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS

At first glance, Russia has coped well under the weight of Ukraine-related Western sanctions, but clouds are starting to circle on Moscow.

Riot police officers fire tear gas canisters to disperse demonstrators during anti-government protests dubbed “Saba Saba People’s March,” in the Rift Valley town of Nakuru, Kenya, on July 7, 2025.
REUTERS/Suleiman Mbatiah

Kenya’s president orders police to shoot at protesters, European nuclear powers expand umbrella, and US President Donald Trump goes after Brazil.

Hezbollah beat on their chests as a sign of mourning during a mass rally to mark Ashoura, commemorating the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration’s envoy to Lebanon, Tom Barrack, received a stunning proposal from the Lebanese government– a plan to disarm Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed Shia militia group that has dominated Lebanon’s politics and fought two major wars with Israel over the past 20 years.

- YouTube

In this episode of Ian Bremmer’s Quick Take, Ian breaks down the growing crisis between the US and Brazil, sparked by Donald Trump’s surprise announcement of a 50% tariff on all imports from Brazil.

- YouTube

“Tech is a means to an end, not the end itself,” says Hovig Etyemezian, head of UNHCR’s Innovation Service. Speaking to GZERO's Tony Maciulis at the 2025 AI for Good Summit in Geneva, Etyemezian explains how technology is helping address one of the world’s most urgent challenges: the record number of forcibly displaced people. As conflicts rise and resources shrink, UNHCR is using data, AI, and digital tools to improve services and empower refugee communities, but only when designed with those communities, not for them.

Over the last decade, the world of space exploration and innovation has exploded. On this episode of Next Giant Leap, season 2 hosts Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA Space, and Mike Massimino, Columbia Engineering professor and former NASA astronaut, take a look at the new space race with former Congresswoman Jane Harman and China expert Dean Cheng. They discuss the role of space in national security, the potential for space-based conflict, and the role of private space companies in this new era.

Elon Musk in an America Party hat.
Jess Frampton

Life comes at you fast. Only five weeks after vowing to step back from politics and a month after accusing President Donald Trump of being a pedophile, Elon Musk declared his intention to launch a new political party offering Americans an alternative to the Republicans and Democrats.