April Domboski

Character AI says its ban on chatbots for youth under 18 will take full effect on November 25th.

UC Berkeley bioethics professor Jody Halpern celebrated the move, but wants parents to know the weeks after separation from an AI companion could be a vulnerable time for self-harm or suicidal thinking.

Parents do not realize that their kids love these bots and that they might feel like their best friend just died or their boyfriend just died.

Character AI said the company is moving slowly and has communicated the upcoming changes widely on its app, Reddit, and Discord, so kids would have time to adjust to the new paradigm.

For NPR News, I'm April Domboski in San Francisco.

Character AI says its ban on chatbots for youth under 18 will take full effect on November 25th.

UC Berkeley bioethics professor Jodi Halpern celebrated the move, but wants parents to know the weeks after separation from an AI companion could be a vulnerable time for self-harm or suicidal thinking.

Character AI said the company is moving slowly and has communicated the upcoming changes widely on its app, Reddit, and Discord, so kids would have time to adjust to the new paradigm.

For NPR News, I'm April Domboski in San Francisco.

It's NPR News.