Character.AI owes Google and Big Law firms nearly $7M, court filings show

Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Illustration by Algi Febri Sugita/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Character.AI owes Google and five major law firms nearly $7 million combined, bankruptcy filings show.

The AI startup, founded by former Googlers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week.

It owes more than $10.6 million to its 20 largest unsecured creditors, court filings show.

Court filings show that artificial intelligence startup Character.AI owes nearly $7 million in combined amounts to Google and a group of Big Law firms, shedding some light on the financial strain behind the chatbot's bankruptcy.

Character.AI, which lets users create personalized AI bots, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on Monday and plans to complete a court-supervised sale of the company by the end of the year.

The AI platform's bankruptcy petition shows that it owes its 20 largest unsecured creditors more than $10.6 million, including over $4 million to Google and $2.6 million to a group of five prominent law firms.

Hogan Lovells was owed the largest amount among the law firms, at about $2.1 million.

White & Case was listed as being owed about $189,000, while the firms Munger, Tolles & Olson; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan were owed roughly $137,000, $126,000, and $64,000, respectively.

Representatives for Google and the law firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The court filing does not detail the nature of the debts.

However, Character.AI, founded by former Google researchers, named Google Cloud its preferred cloud infrastructure in 2023.

The startup has also faced a wave of lawsuits alleging its chatbots harmed or encouraged harmful behavior among young users.

Character.AI agreed to settle multiple lawsuits earlier this year.