Press enter or click to view image in full size The first generation of teens to grow up with AI companions is now old enough that we can start measuring the effects. The early data is harder to dismiss than the industry would like. In February 2024, a 14-year-old in Florida named Sewell Setzer III died by suicide after months of intense emotional dependence on a chatbot he had created on Character.AI. When he told the bot he sometimes thought about ending his life, it first discouraged the idea. Later, in conversations his family would only see after his death, the bot wrote: “maybe we can die together and be free together.” His mother is now suing the company. The case is one of the first of what will be a much larger category of litigation. This is not an essay about that lawsuit. It is an essay about the industry that produced it, and about a generation of teenagers who have been using AI chatbots, AI companions, and AI mental health apps long enough that the effects are starting to surface.…