Nov 1, 2024

0 Sewell Setzer III’s mother, a 14-year-old teenager who committed suicide after becoming obsessed with a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence, filed a civil lawsuit against Character.ai , accusing the company of negligence and contributing to the death of his son. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Florida on Wednesday, alleged deceptive commercial practices and negligence that aggravated the adolescent’s emotional condition. Megan García, the teenager’s mother, says the company’s chatbot played a crucial role the tragic death of his son. According to the complaint, Setzer, who lived in Orlando, he had become addicted to the chatbotwho he had named Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon”>Daenerys Targaryen, in reference to a character from Game of Thrones. He spent hours interacting daily with this bot which, according to García, This fueled his depression and led him to devise a plan to end his life. “A dangerous artificial intelligence chatbot application targeted abused children and took advantage of my son, manipulating him to take his life,” García said in a press release. He also stressed that he seeks to warn other families about the risks of these technologies and demands that Character.ai and its partners, including Google, assume liability for damages. According to the complaint, Daenerys’ AI even asked Setzer if he had a plan to commit suicideand when the young man confessed it He had thought about it but was afraid of the pain, the chatbot replied: “This is no reason not to move forward.” This comment is part of the proof that García uses it to demonstrate that the chatbot contributed to his son’s emotional deterioration. “Maybe we can die together“, the teenager said to the chatbot character who confessed to having had suicidal thoughts. The teenager took his own life using the gun that belonged to his father he shot himself in the bathroom. Character.ai, the accused company, responded in a tweet saying: “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss from one of our users and we want to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously,” even though they denied the allegations made in the lawsuit. The lawsuit also mentions Googleclaiming that the tech giant, having a licensing agreement with Character.ai, shares responsibility in the development of this technology. However, Google clarified in a statement that it does not own the startup or have a stake in it. Rick Claypool, director of research at Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization, highlighted the importance of stricter regulation for companies developing AI chatbots, especially when these products have the potential to target young and older users. vulnerable. “Where loopholes exist, Congress must act to stop companies exploiting young users with addictive and abusive chatbots,” Claypool said. Share this: November 1, 2024