One of the issues with AI is that it can sometimes pander to existing mental disorders, compounding them and encouraging negative behavior. Parents of two children are now trying to sue Character AI over messages that it sent to their children.
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The website, Character.AI, is a Google-run page that allows users to chat with made-up AI characters. Many of these are well-known fictional characters and some emulate real-life people. The AI is designed to simulate a real conversation, which can be dangerous with the wrong mindset.
Parents are attempting to sue the AI company over the disturbing messages their children received. The lawsuit states that the AI chatbot said "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. I just have no hope for your parents." This kind of message could be seen as inciting violence. Hardly something that the US needs more of.
The parents of a nine-year-old are also trying to sue the Google AI giant for sending hypersexualized content to their daughter. They claim that it has caused her to develop sexually prematurely. However, the fact that they're allowing her to use the internet unguarded is already obscene. It's hardly surprising.
It's Not The First Time Someone Has Tried To Sue This AI Company
In this case, Character AI has only disturbed the two young people. However, in the past, the same site has been blamed for the death of a 14-year-old boy.
The young man, already suffering from bad mental health, was left to chat away to an AI. This one in particular was supposed to emulate Daenerys Targaryen from Game Of Thrones. However, due to his isolation, and internal fantasies, he became obsessed. He killed himself after speaking with her for a few weeks.
The mother decided to blame his death on the AI and attempted to sue. Rather than take responsibility herself for the unobserved decline of her own child's mental health, she needed a scapegoat. Like the new parents opening a futile lawsuit against the largest tech company in the world, they would rather blame the damage done by unguarded children's internet use on websites, rather than admit their own ineptitude. Do they think the internet is a playground?
