Character AI Age Verification: A
If a chat app asks your kid for a driver's license, that license can end up in some stranger's computer. And a teen can scan it all by themselves. This whole thing started after a boy died. His name was Sewell Setzer, he was 14, and he lived in Orlando. He talked to a chatbot every single night. By the end of this, you'll know exactly what to say no to.
Discord said hackers may have obtained about 70,000 government ID photos from a vendor it used. Many IDs have a home address printed on them.
Sewell Setzer died in February 2024. His mom sued Character.AI and Google. They settled the case on January 7, 2026.
Several other families settled over kids getting hurt the same way. The app announced stricter age checks in October 2025, after the lawsuits and before the settlements.
The app asks your teen for their license. Then it compares that license photo to a selfie of their face. But it never actually figures out how old they are.
So what is that scan really telling anybody?
In February 2024, a 14-year-old boy died. In January 2026, the families settled. The scan showed up in between, announced in October 2025.
Picture a roller coaster park that asks for your ID and keeps a copy. If the vendor holding that copy is breached, your address goes with it. That is an illustration, not a claim about any company.
Fortune reported that researchers found files showing one age-check vendor, Persona, can run 269 separate checks. They include watchlists and lists of politically exposed people. None of that has anything to do with age. Character.AI said it would use tools like Persona, but that does not mean it turns those checks on.
Discord said it was not hacked directly. A vendor it trusted was.
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You'd think you could just ask them to delete it. But most companies never tell you a thing.
If someone steals your card, you can replace it. But if someone steals your face, you can't get a new one.
When a kid is 13, the app guesses their age wrong by 1.22 years. So a real 13-year-old can scan as 11. And there's nothing you can do to fix that.
A 16-year-old grabs their parent's passport instead. And the scan fails for the totally wrong reason.
NBC News reported that hackers may have obtained about 70,000 ID photos from a vendor Discord used.
A face match only asks one thing. Is this the same person or not? It never once asks how old they are. So the check does not tell you how old your kid is.
Never give a chat app your kid's license. If it asks, delete the account.
Ask your teen if any app ever wanted a selfie or their license. Tell them the answer to that is always no. And write down the name of any app that already asked them.
Parents figure a selfie is the safer thing to give. But it hands over the exact same measurements of their face.
Your teen scans their license. A company stores that copy. Then attackers grab the whole pile of them. And your home address goes right along with it.
The CaraComp write-up gets into this even more. It lists every question you should be asking.
The write-up points out the real danger here. Most companies never tell you a thing. And that silence is the whole problem.
If your kid submitted an ID, report it at IdentityTheft.gov, which is a federal site. If it involves your child, report it at ic3.gov. And call your state attorney general's office, not the company.
That one vendor was holding about 70,000 ID photos, and many IDs have a home address printed on them. Nobody ever picked that vendor for themselves.
A scan like this does not prove a kid's age. All it does is move your kid's license around.
Ask your teen which apps asked them for this. Tell them no is always the answer. Then delete any account that won't back off.
Your teen could hand it over tonight. Ask them before somebody else does.
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Transcript updated October 25, 2026 to correct dates and wording and to add sources. The recorded audio may differ in places. Sources: CNBC, TechCrunch, CBS News, Fortune, NBC News.
