Character.AI, known for bots that impersonate characters like Harry Potter, said Wednesday it will ban teens from using the chat function following lawsuits that blamed explicit chats on the app for children’s deaths and suicide attempts.

Users under 18 will no longer be able to engage in open-ended chats with the app’s AI bots — which can turn romantic — the Silicon Valley startup said. These teens account for 10% of the app’s roughly 20 million monthly users.

Teen users will be restricted to just two hours of the chat function per day over the next few weeks until the feature is banned altogether by Nov. 25, the company said. They will still be able to use the app’s other features, like a feed for watching AI-generated videos.

“Over the past year, we’ve invested tremendous effort and

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