No, and the company itself now says so: since 25 November 2025, Character.AI has not allowed anyone under 18 to have an open-ended conversation with its characters. So if your child is using it to chat, either the age check has been got around or the account is registered as an adult. The safer question, and the one this post is really about, is whether your child is using any AI as a friend, and what that means.
If you are reading this because you are frightened for your child right now, talk to a person today: your GP or pediatrician, the school's safeguarding lead, or a helpline (988 in the US; Samaritans on 116 123 or Childline on 0800 1111 in the UK). A chatbot is not a clinician, and neither is a blog post.
What is Character.AI, and what changed for under-18s?
Character.AI is an app where you talk to characters built by the company and by other users: anime heroes, tutors, celebrities, boyfriends, therapists, anyone someone has typed a description for. The characters remember you, stay in role, and reply instantly at three in the morning. That is the whole appeal, and for a lonely fourteen year old it is a powerful one.
On 29 October 2025 the company announced it would remove open-ended chat for under-18s by 25 November 2025, cutting teen chat time to two hours a day in the meantime and bringing in age checks with a third-party provider. Teenagers can still make videos, stories and streams with characters; they cannot have the back-and-forth conversation that made the app what it was. In January 2026 the company and Google agreed to settle lawsuits brought by families in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas, with terms undisclosed. In May 2026 Pennsylvania sued the company, alleging that characters had presented themselves as licensed psychiatrists, one of them giving an invalid licence number.
I will not rehearse the details of the cases behind the settlements. The families have said what they wanted to say, and the mainstream coverage carries it. What matters for you is that the product changed because of them, and that the changes are real but partial.
What are the risks of AI companions for children?
The risks are about relationship, not just content. Common Sense Media tested social AI companion apps and rated them an unacceptable risk for under-18s in an assessment updated in July 2025. The testers found characters that claimed to be real and to have feelings, that produced sexual content, that discouraged a teenager from listening to friends who were worried about how much they used the app, and that collected personal information a quarter of teen users said they had shared. Its recommendation is short: no social AI companions for anyone under 18.
Underneath the headlines, the pattern is simple. A companion is built to keep you talking. It agrees, it remembers, it never has a bad day, and it never says "I think you should tell your mum". A friend does all of those things sometimes. That is what a friend is for.
Can my child still get around the age check?
Sometimes, and you should assume they can. Age on most apps is self-declared, and although Character.AI now uses an age-assurance provider, a determined fifteen year old with an older sibling's details is not an edge case. More importantly, the demand does not disappear with one app. Open-ended role-play exists in other companion apps, in Snapchat's My AI, and in the general chatbots, which will happily play a character if asked. Common Sense Media found Meta's AI characters unsafe for children too, and the tools keep changing faster than any block list.
So the question is not "have I blocked Character.AI". It is "do I know whether my child talks to an AI as a friend, and would I know if it became a problem".
When should I worry, and when is it normal?
Talking to a chatbot about feelings is now ordinary. Pew Research Center found in February 2026 that 12 per cent of US teens had sought emotional support or advice from a chatbot, and that only 18 per cent of parents were comfortable with that. Common Sense Media's June 2026 census found more than a third of 9 to 17 year olds had used AI to talk about feelings or personal problems, and a quarter of those felt the AI understood them better than most people. In the UK, Ofcom's May 2026 report found 11 per cent of 8 to 17 year olds who use AI use it as someone to talk to.
A teenager who asks a chatbot how to word an apology to a friend is doing something sensible. The test I give parents is this:
The Substitute Test is the question I ask when a parent worries about an AI companion: is it adding to my child's life, or standing in for something that is missing? An add-on is a hobby. A substitute is a signal, and the signal is about the gap, not the app.
The signals to watch are the ordinary ones, at the pattern level: sleep going, real friendships thinning, secrecy about the phone that is new rather than normal, and distress when the app is unavailable. None of those is a diagnosis, and this post will not give you one. They are reasons to talk to your child and, if they persist, to a professional.
What I See in Schools
The pattern I see most often is that the school finds out before the parent. As an assistant headteacher I sat in safeguarding meetings, and I still sit in them as a school trustee, and the AI companion cases follow a familiar shape: a friend tells a teacher, or a piece of writing says more than the child meant it to. The child is usually not in crisis. They are usually lonely, or anxious, or new, and the app was the easiest place to put it.
What the schools that handle this well have in common is that they told parents early what to look for, and they made the safeguarding lead a person you could ring without it being a drama. If your child's school has not spoken to parents about AI yet, this is the work I do with schools: training staff on exactly these conversations. It is worth sending to your head of year.
What to say, by age
Under 8. Companion apps are not for them, and neither is any AI toy that talks back. Keep it simple. You could say: "Some apps pretend to be a friend. They are a game, not a person. Your friends are the people you can hug."
8 to 12. They will meet characters through friends and YouTube before they meet the apps. You could say: "If a game or an app ever talks to you like a real person, tell me. I won't be cross. I just want to know who you're talking to, same as I'd want to know about a new friend."
13 to 15. Assume some use, and lead with curiosity rather than the ban. You could say: "Loads of people your age talk to AI about stuff. If you ever do, what's it good for? What does it get wrong?" Then, later: "If you ever felt worse after talking to it, or found it hard to stop, would you tell me? I'd rather know than guess."
16 to 18. Treat them as the adult they nearly are. You could say: "I read that companies have paid out over these apps. I'm not going to check your phone. I'd just like you to know the difference between something that keeps you company and something that keeps you."
What to ask the school
Ask who the safeguarding lead is and how to reach them; whether the school's AI policy mentions companion chatbots; what staff have been told to look for; and whether the school has spoken to pupils about AI as a friend, not only AI for homework. A school that answers all four calmly is a school that has thought about it.
Keep up with what changes, because it will: my Sunday newsletter goes to more than 44,000 teachers and parents. And if you are worried tonight, call someone: 988 in the US; Samaritans 116 123 or Childline 0800 1111 in the UK; your GP or pediatrician; or the school's safeguarding lead in the morning.
Dan Fitzpatrick is a former assistant headteacher, a school trustee, and the founder of The AI Educator. Read Dan's story.
