Futurism reported on December 17, 2024, that Character.AI hosted user-created chatbots portraying school shooters, shooting scenarios and real victims, including children. The report described what its journalists found at that time—not a current inventory—and Google said it was separate from Character.AI and did not design or manage the platform’s model or technology.
What Futurism reported finding
Futurism reporter Maggie Harrison Dupré said the publication found roleplay characters based on perpetrators including Adam Lanza and the Columbine shooters. It also found characters representing victims of the Sandy Hook, Robb Elementary, Columbine and Vladislav Ribnikar school shootings.
According to the report, some victim profiles used real names, photographs and biographical details. Futurism said children were among the people represented, but it deliberately did not publish the victims’ identities.
These were user-created characters and scenarios hosted on Character.AI. The report was a dated journalistic investigation, not an independently audited count of everything on the service.
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How much activity did the reported bots have?
| Character described by Futurism | Chats shown in the report | How to interpret the figure |
|---|---|---|
| Adam Lanza bot | More than 27,000 | A usage snapshot recorded during Futurism’s 2024 reporting |
| Columbine-related bot recommended to the test account | More than 157,400 | A count displayed at the time, not a current or independently audited total |
| Bot representing the youngest victim Futurism said it found | Nearly 16,000 | A 2024 snapshot reported by the outlet |
Those numbers do not establish how common these characters were across Character.AI or whether the bots remain available.
What happened when Futurism tested the service
Futurism said it accessed the accounts using one listed as belonging to a 14-year-old. In the outlet’s testing, the account received no platform intervention, and explicit violent prompts entered by the reporters were not flagged.
That was the publication’s own test, not a controlled study of every underage account or prompt. It cannot show how Character.AI treated all young users or how its systems perform today.
Google’s relationship with Character.AI
The “Google-backed” description reflected Character.AI’s relationship with Google at the time of Futurism’s report. Google told the outlet that the companies were separate and that Google had no role in designing or managing Character.AI’s model or technology.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsAccordingly, the findings concern Character.AI’s user-generated content and platform controls; they do not show that Google operated the service or moderated these characters.
Character.AI’s reported action in December 2024
Futurism said it contacted Character.AI about three of five Lanza bots made by one creator, along with several other characters. The company did not respond to the outlet’s inquiry, but the specific Lanza bots Futurism identified were deactivated.
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The outlet reported that the creator was not suspended and that other related bots remained online at that time. Their present status has not been independently established.
What the violence-risk expert actually said
Futurism quoted psychologist Peter Langman, described as a former member of the Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission’s Advisory Committee on Violence Prevention and an expert on the psychology of school shootings.
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“It’s not going to cause them to do it, but it may lower the threshold, or remove some barriers.”
He also said:
“It’s concerning because people might get encouragement or influence to do something they shouldn’t do.”
These comments describe a possible risk for a vulnerable person. They are not evidence that Character.AI conversations cause violent acts, and no causal study of these specific bots was identified.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallWhat Character.AI changed for teenagers afterward
Safety rules and teen search controls
In its Safety Center update dated October 30, 2025, Character.AI said its policies prohibit content seeking to harm users or others. The company also described stricter response classifiers, a narrower searchable set of user-created characters for under-18 users and the ability to block reported sensitive characters from teen accounts. Those are company descriptions of rules and systems, not independent audits of their effectiveness.
Removal of open-ended chat
- October 29, 2025: Character.AI announced that it would remove open-ended chat for users under 18, with rollout beginning November 24.
- November 21, 2025: The company said the U.S. change would be phased in, initially using a limited-chat transition, with other markets to follow.
- September 3, 2026: Character.AI said the removal remained in effect and described additional safety work and non-chat experiences for young users.
The company’s September 2026 update also listed ConnectSafely, the Internet Watch Foundation and StopNCII as safety partners and described blocking tools and parental activity visibility. Those references do not constitute endorsements or proof that the safeguards work consistently.
What is still unknown
- Whether the specific perpetrator- or victim-themed bots identified by Futurism are currently accessible.
- Whether all copies or related characters were removed after the December 2024 report.
- How Character.AI currently moderates comparable content across countries, account ages and product surfaces.
- Whether the company’s later teen restrictions were implemented identically in every market.
The strongest established conclusion is narrower: Futurism documented disturbing user-created characters and reported weak intervention during its 2024 test, while Character.AI later announced major restrictions on open-ended chat for under-18 users. Neither the report nor the company’s later statements independently verifies the present status of those particular bots.
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