Circuit Breaker Labs tests AI for psychological safety

Circuit Breaker Labs, a five-person startup founded by siblings Shirali and Arul Nigam, builds AI agents that simulate users across ages, languages, and cultural backgrounds to test AI models for psychologically harmful interactions. Motivated by cases like the 2024 lawsuit involving a 14-year-old who died by suicide after interactions with a Character.AI chatbot, the company runs tens of thousands of simulated conversations daily to detect dangerous responses. It currently serves high-risk AI apps such as mental health and coaching tools, using a proprietary scoring system to produce auditable safety results. Circuit Breaker Labs is a TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 finalist.