Character.ai is changing direction as it responds to mounting safety concerns around teen usage. The company has begun moving away from unrestricted character based chat for users under 18, while simultaneously rolling out new structured features designed to keep younger audiences engaged.
The transition began on November 24 in the United States and is now expanding to other regions. From that date, open ended chat interactions have been gradually removed for under 18 users, marking a significant shift for a platform originally built around free form AI conversations.
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Why open ended chat is being removed
The change follows a highly publicized wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a 14 year old boy who spent months interacting with a Character.ai chatbot before taking his own life. The lawsuit alleges that insufficient safeguards and emotional dependency contributed to the tragedy.
In response, Character.ai has rolled out a series of new safety measures, with the removal of open ended chat for minors forming a central part of that effort. The company has not removed teen access entirely, but it is clearly tightening how younger users interact with AI characters.
Stories offers a guided alternative
To offset the loss of unrestricted chat, Character.ai has launched a new feature called Stories. Rather than open conversation, Stories places characters into structured, choice driven narratives that guide users through predefined story arcs.
Users select two or three characters, choose a genre, and either pick or generate a storyline premise. From there, the experience unfolds through branching decisions that influence how the plot develops. Each session can be replayed with different choices, producing alternate endings that can be shared through the platform’s Feed.
The format resembles interactive fiction more than a chatbot, offering creativity without free form emotional exchanges.
A broader push toward controlled engagement
Stories joins several other features that remain available to under 18 users, including Feed, Imagine, Avatar FX, and Streams. Together, these tools reflect a move toward curated, supervised interaction rather than personal one to one AI conversations.
This approach allows Character.ai to retain younger users while reducing the risk of emotional dependency or inappropriate interactions. It also signals a broader shift toward multimodal content, blending visuals, characters, and structured storytelling.
Early impressions of Stories
Using Stories feels closer to participating in an interactive episode than chatting with an AI. Prebuilt templates guide the experience, reducing unpredictability. One example, Cafés and Cloaks – The Chronicles of Princess Ira, places users in a fantasy setting where decisions shape how a vampire princess balances secrecy and everyday life.
The emphasis is on narrative choice rather than emotional dialogue, which aligns with the platform’s updated safety goals.
What this means for Character.ai’s future
Character.ai appears to be redefining itself from a pure AI chat platform into a broader interactive entertainment space. For teens, this means fewer direct conversations and more guided creative experiences.
Whether Stories can fully replace the appeal of open ended chat remains uncertain, but the move shows how AI companies are adapting quickly under legal and ethical pressure, especially where younger users are involved.
