Is Character AI Safe? Chats, Age Rules and Deleting (2026)

Character.AI is an AI character chat service run by Character Technologies, Inc. Its Privacy Policy says it collects your chat communications and may use them to train its AI models; its Terms of Service let it review your content; and it began ending open-ended chat for minors in late November 2025. It runs on the web at character.ai and in apps for iPhone and Android. Below, Prelulu answers the questions people search about Character.AI, including whether it is safe, whether it can see your chats, how old you must be, whether it is free and how to delete your account, using only Character.AI's official sources. If you would rather call a character and hear them answer, see Character AI alternatives.

Character.AI in one table (checked October 20, 2026)

What is Character.AI?

Character.AI is a place to chat with AI characters that users create, or to create your own. Its help center says it is powered by its own deep learning models and warns that "Characters make things up": they can recommend a song that does not exist or invent evidence. The company is Character Technologies, Inc., with a postal address in Menlo Park, California, given in the Privacy Policy.

Is Character AI safe?

Character.AI's Safety Center describes a "safety-by-design approach" with four topics: Parental Insights, content moderation, teen safety and reporting. Its Privacy Policy (effective July 1, 2026) gives the data detail:

• Character.AI collects what you submit, including chat communications, posted images or videos and shared Characters, and recordings of your voice if you use voice features.
• It uses information to run and improve the service, including to train its artificial intelligence and machine learning models, and to provide tailored advertising.
• It discloses information to vendors and service providers, including for content moderation, and to advertising and analytics providers.
• If you make a Character public, others can see it. And if a Character you made is available to other users, Character.AI may keep it active even after you delete your account, so the policy asks you not to put personal information in a Character you plan to share.
• You can delete your account from your profile, and ask about your data at privacy@character.ai.

The Terms of Service list the content Character.AI does not allow, including content that glorifies or gives instructions for self-harm and any sexual exploitation of a minor. The Safety Center explains Parental Insights: a teen can invite a parent or guardian, who then receives a weekly report of time spent and the top Characters used. This article does not decide whether Character.AI is safe for you; it shows what Character.AI itself says, so you can judge.

Can Character AI see your chats?

Character.AI's sources do not promise that nobody at the company reads chats. The Terms of Service say: "While we're not required to do so, we may access, review, screen, edit, modify and delete your content at any time and for any reason", including to develop the service or when content may break the terms. The Privacy Policy lists chat communications among the information it collects, and says it shares information with employees, consultants and vendors who need it, including for content moderation. It describes public Characters and Voices as visible to others; it does not describe other users reading your private chats.

Does Character.AI use your chats to train its AI?

Yes, according to its own help center: Character.AI retains data you share "to help train and improve our AI models", and says it reduces personal information in the training data first. Users in the European Economic Area and the UK can opt out by turning off "Improve the Model for Everyone" under Settings, Data & Privacy in the app, or under Manage Account & Data, Model Improvement on the web. After opting out, new content is not used to train its generative models, though Character.AI may still use data to improve search, recommendations and safety classifiers.

How old do you have to be to use Character AI?

The Terms of Service say you may not sign up if you are under 13, or under 16 if you live in the European Economic Area or the UK, and Character.AI asks for your birthday for that reason. For minors, Character.AI announced in October 2025 that open-ended chat would end, with the change rolling out from late November 2025. Its help center now says an account verified as a minor's is placed in "reading mode": chat with characters is not available, while past chats stay viewable and creating Characters, scenes and videos, Imagine Chat and AvatarFX remain.

To place each account in the right experience, Character.AI runs "age assurance" on all accounts, using signals such as login information and activity on the platform. If it decides you are a minor and you are not, you can verify with a selfie through its provider Persona; only if that is inconclusive does Persona ask for an ID, which Character.AI says it never receives. The US App Store rates the app 17+.

Is Character AI free?

Yes. Character.AI's c.ai+ FAQ says it offers "free and unlimited messaging for ALL users". The optional c.ai+ subscription skips waiting rooms, generates messages faster and adds a member badge and early access to features; the FAQ says the content Characters produce is the same with or without it.

How do you delete your Character AI account?

1. Export first if you want a copy. On the web, go to Profile Settings, Account, Manage Account & Data, Export Data; in the app, Settings, Legal & Privacy, Export Data. The help center says an export can take 3 to 4 weeks and the download link lasts 7 days.
2. Delete the account. On the web, Profile Settings, Account, Manage Account & Data, Delete Account; in the app, open your profile settings and select Remove Account. The help center says deletion is permanent.
3. Cancel c.ai+ separately if you have it. The c.ai+ FAQ says you cancel from your profile with "Cancel My Subscription".
4. Know what may stay. A Character you made available to others may stay active, and Character.AI may keep some information for legal reasons, according to the Privacy Policy.

If you want to hear the character answer: Prelulu

This article does not conclude that Character.AI is safe or unsafe, and it does not claim that Prelulu is safer. If what you want is to talk out loud with a character, Prelulu is another option. Every Prelulu character is original fiction. You chat first, then start a live voice call and hear the character answer in their own voice; you can interrupt mid-reply, just as you would with a person. Characters that offer video can be called face to face, and your camera stays off unless you turn it on.

Text chat includes a daily free message allowance, and voice and video calls use credits from one wallet; signup welcome credits can fund a short call. Prelulu works in your browser at prelulu.ai and in the iOS and Android apps. You can export or delete your data anytime, and we never sell your chats.