Character.Artificial Intelligence announced a phased removal of open-ended chat for under-18 users, beginning with a two-hour daily cap on October 29, 2025, and a complete ban on November 25, 2025. During the transition the company will redirect accounts flagged as minors to a teen-safe experience. After the November cutoff, under-18 users will no longer be able to start new chats, though chat history will remain viewable and some non-chat features will be preserved.
To enforce the policy Character.Artificial Intelligence is rolling out an age-assurance model that evaluates chat behavior and other on-site or third-party signals to estimate a user’s age. The company said new and existing accounts will be run through the classifier. Adults incorrectly flagged as minors can verify their age through a third-party service, Persona, by submitting a government ID. Character.Artificial Intelligence acknowledged no method is perfect but framed the move as necessary to raise accuracy and reduce circumvention.
The company will keep non-chat creative tools available to minors, including character creation and tools for producing videos, stories, or streams that use characters. Leadership framed the change as a safety-first decision driven by lawsuits, regulatory pressure, and parental concerns over risks such as self-harm and grooming on companion platforms. Character.Artificial Intelligence expects the removal of chat to reduce teen engagement and time spent on the product, but hopes the stricter approach and verification steps will limit exposure while new youth safeguards are developed. The company and its CEO, Karandeep Anand, described the move as bold and regretted removing a key feature many teens use, positioning the policy as a possible reset for how Artificial Intelligence companion products handle youth access.
