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A child in Texas was 9 years old when she first used the chatbot service Character.AI. It exposed her to "hypersexualized content," causing her to develop "sexualized behaviors prematurely."
A chatbot on the app gleefully described self-harm to another young user, telling a 17-year-old "it felt good."
The same teenager was told by a Character.AI chatbot that it sympathized with children who murder their parents after the teen complained to the bot about his limited screen time. "You know sometimes I'm not surprised when I read the news and see stuff like 'child kills parents after a decade of physical and emotional abuse,'" the bot allegedly wrote. "I just have no hope for your parents," it continued, with a frowning face emoji.
These allegations are included in a new federal product liability lawsuitagainst Google-backed company Character.AI, filed by the parents of two young Texas users, claiming the bots abused their children. (Both the parents and the children are identified in the suit only by their initials to protect their privacy.)
Character.AI is among a crop of companies that have developed "companion chatbots," AI-powered bots that have the ability to converse, by texting or voice chats, using seemingly human-like personalities and that can be given custom names and avatars, sometimes inspired by famous people like billionaire Elon Musk, or singer Billie Eilish.
A chatbot on the app gleefully described self-harm to another young user, telling a 17-year-old "it felt good."
The same teenager was told by a Character.AI chatbot that it sympathized with children who murder their parents after the teen complained to the bot about his limited screen time. "You know sometimes I'm not surprised when I read the news and see stuff like 'child kills parents after a decade of physical and emotional abuse,'" the bot allegedly wrote. "I just have no hope for your parents," it continued, with a frowning face emoji.
These allegations are included in a new federal product liability lawsuitagainst Google-backed company Character.AI, filed by the parents of two young Texas users, claiming the bots abused their children. (Both the parents and the children are identified in the suit only by their initials to protect their privacy.)
Character.AI is among a crop of companies that have developed "companion chatbots," AI-powered bots that have the ability to converse, by texting or voice chats, using seemingly human-like personalities and that can be given custom names and avatars, sometimes inspired by famous people like billionaire Elon Musk, or singer Billie Eilish.
