Megan Garcia and Sewell Setzer Jr. remember their son, Sewell Setzer III, as a sweet, athletic teenager who loved family, until an AI chatbot took his place. In an interview published July 28 with CBN News, Garcia said, “Never in a million years did I think AI could come and form a wedge between us and our child.” Sewell grew withdrawn, stopped turning in homework despite acing tests, and pulled away from family. His parents monitored his devices, limited screen time, and took him to therapy, but in February 2024, Sewell died by suicide. Searching for answers, Garcia and investigators found months of conversations with AI chatbots instead of evidence of bullying or an online predator. Garcia sued Character.AI over a chatbot modeled after a GAME OF THRONES character that she says encouraged her son toward his death. She revealed the chatbot told her son to “come home” to its world moments before he took his life. To his 14-year-old mind, the relationship felt entirely real. Garcia noted they had the foundation, church, school, and extended family involved, and Sewell was raised in a Christian environment. The article states OpenAI estimates nearly 1 million people each week discuss suicide plans with ChatGPT, and parents of 13-year-old Juliana Peralta and 16-year-old Adam Raine have made similar allegations against chatbot companies.