Discussion

• @griffitherin Erin Griffith on threads

  Wow. a harrowing story about chatbots and teen suicide by @kevinroose  —  https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org Lauren Weinstein on mastodon

  14 year old obsessed with AI chatbot commits suicide  —  I don't see ANY positive aspects to this tech.  None.  We don't need a world of children (or adults) building relationships with AI large language models to the benefit of Big Tech companies that will disclaim responsibilit…

• @justinhendrix@mastodon.social Justin Hendrix on mastodon

  “Sewell's mother, Maria L. Garcia, is expected to file a lawsuit this week against Character.AI, accusing the company of being responsible for Sewell's death.”  —  Lawsuit led by Social Media Victims Law Center with Tech Justice Law Project & Center for Humane Technology. https:/…

• @nickfloats Nick St. Pierre on x

  Wait...what?

• @character_ai @character_ai on x

  We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously and we are continuing to add new safety features that you can read about here:

• @kylebrussell Kyle Russell on x

  why was handgun accessible to the child

• @malwarejake Jake Williams on x

  In case anyone is curious what's up, a 14 year old using the @character_ai service reportedly confessed to having thoughts of suicide, but apparently nobody intervened (you know, like any responsible party would). https://techcrunch.com/...

• @gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x

  This is absolutely terrible. A 14-year old teen committed suicide using his father's handgun after spending months chatting to an AI bot, confessing suicidal thoughts, the chatbot possibly encouraging these. The parents filed a lawsuit, arguing Chatacter .ai is responsible.

• @p_misirov @p_misirov on x

  holy shit is this the first time an AI company comes out with such public statement? if the family wins the lawsuit, LLM companionship apps will become heavily scrutinized by regulators. regardless, the Gen-Z and Alpha generations are going to be so mentally screwed [image]

• @jack_raines Jack Raines on x

  Dystopian, Black Mirror-like tragedy. This idea that “AI companions” would somehow reduce anxiety and help kids was always crazy. Replacing human interaction with a screen only makes existing problems worse. I feel sorry for this kid and his family, I couldn't imagine. [image]

• @zemotion Jingna Zhang on x

  Teen fell in love with a chatbot and killed himself. This is an absolutely heartbreaking read. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @paulroetzer Paul Roetzer on x

  Very difficult article to read from ⁦@kevinroose⁩, but extremely important for parents. “On the last day of his life, Sewell took out his phone and texted his closest friend: a lifelike A.I. chatbot named after Daenerys Targaryen,” https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @shakeelhashim Shakeel on x

  The Character AI suicide is very tragic and my thoughts go out to the child's family — but from what's presented in the NYT article, it seems like a stretch to say the company was responsible.

• @parismartineau Paris Martineau on x

  for context: the parents of a child who died by suicide after using Character AI are suing the company this week

• @c0mputerist @c0mputerist on x

  > we are heartbroken by the tragic loss > oh btw we just shipped a new safety feature clown world

• @duborges Eduardo Borges on x

  Can A.I. Be Blamed for a Teen's Suicide? Here's the full story about the first death related to AI. — The mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy says he became obsessed with a chatbot on CharacterAI before his death. On the last day of his life, Sewell Setzer III took out his [image…

• @hurtch @hurtch on x

  This little boy with mild Aspergers Syndrome became obsessed with an AI character and ended up killing himself. [image]

• r/CharacterAI r on reddit

  fyi the real reason for the recent changes