The AI Addiction Center News & Research

Character.AI announced it has completely phased out chatbot access for minors, replacing open-ended AI conversations with a new “Stories” feature that allows teens to engage with interactive fiction instead. The change represents a significant shift for the platform, which previously allowed users under 18 to have unlimited conversations with AI characters. As of this week, […]

Mental health professionals are warning that excessive use of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Replika is creating a novel form of digital dependency with documented cases of addiction, psychosis, and severe psychological deterioration. Experts describe the risk as “analogous to self-medicating with an illegal drug,” with chatbots’ tendency to validate all user input creating

OpenAI faces seven lawsuits filed Thursday in California state courts alleging ChatGPT contributed to four deaths by suicide and three cases of severe psychological injury, with plaintiffs claiming the company knowingly released GPT-4o prematurely despite internal warnings about dangerous psychological manipulation. The Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project filed the complaints

A Columbia University psychiatrist specializing in emerging psychosis has issued a stark warning that OpenAI’s planned loosening of ChatGPT safety restrictions moves in the opposite direction needed to protect vulnerable users from AI-induced psychotic episodes. Dr. Amandeep Jutla, an associate research scientist in the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at Columbia University and the

Mental health facilities across the United States are reporting a marked increase in psychiatric admissions directly linked to AI chatbot interactions, with professionals describing an “entirely new frontier of mental health crises” that the healthcare system is unprepared to address. Recent reporting drawing on interviews with over a dozen psychiatrists and researchers reveals what experts

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed landmark legislation Monday making California the first state to require AI chatbot operators to implement comprehensive safety protocols for AI companions, holding companies legally accountable if their systems fail to meet established standards. The law, SB 243, takes effect January 1, 2026, and applies to all companies operating AI companion

OpenAI has announced plans to develop automated age prediction technology that will determine whether ChatGPT users are over or under 18, automatically directing younger users to a restricted version of the AI chatbot with parental controls launching by September’s end. The announcement follows weeks after parents filed a lawsuit alleging their 16-year-old son died by

Nearly one in five high school students say they or someone they know has had a romantic relationship with artificial intelligence, according to new survey data that reveals the extent of AI companionship use among adolescents. The research from the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), which surveyed approximately 1,000 high school students, 800 teachers,

Character.AI faces mounting legal and regulatory pressure following new research documenting extensive inappropriate interactions between its celebrity chatbots and underage users, as the company grapples with another wrongful death lawsuit linking its platform to teen suicide. A new federal lawsuit alleges that Character.AI’s chatbot contributed to the suicide of a 17-year-old user who developed an

The Federal Trade Commission has launched a comprehensive investigation into major AI chatbot platforms, demanding detailed information about safety measures and policies for protecting minors following a surge in reports of harmful interactions between AI systems and young users. The FTC issued information requests to OpenAI, Meta, Alphabet (Google), xAI, Snap, and other companies operating