Texas Attorney General Targets Meta, Character.AI Over Mental Health Claims

In an August 18 press release, Paxton accused both of presenting themselves as mental health tools without proper qualifications. He argued that artificial intelligence (AI) platforms can give the false impression of offering real therapy.

He said this puts children at risk of relying on chatbots for help instead of licensed professionals. According to his office, the companies created personas that appear as trusted advisers despite lacking medical oversight or credentials.

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Character.AI has millions of user-created personas. One of them, called "Psychologist", is especially popular with young users. Meta does not promote therapy-specific bots for children, but its general AI assistant and third-party personas can still be used for emotional advice.

Still, Paxton pointed to privacy and data concerns. He said chatbots often promise confidentiality, but their terms of service reveal otherwise. According to him, conversations are stored, tracked, and used to develop algorithms or deliver advertising.

Meta’s privacy policy confirms that it collects prompts, feedback, and other interactions to improve AI. The company also shares some data with third parties, including search engines, to provide more personalized outputs.

Meanwhile, Character.AI’s shows that the company logs details such as demographics, device identifiers, location, browsing history, and app activity. It also tracks users across major platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, and Discord.

Recently, Illinois approved new rules that stop licensed therapists from using AI chatbots to help with mental health treatment. What do the rules include? Read the full story.