A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal courts revealed that the character-making app Charater.ai is accused of causing the death of a Florida teenager earlier this year. The complainant is Megan Garcia, whose 14-year-old son killed himself in February after months of interacting with the chatbot.
14 year old Sewell Setzer III knew that Daenerys Targaryen, a chatbot based on a Game of Thrones character, was not a real person, but he developed an emotional attachment and constantly used the bot’s messages. On the last day of his life, he also sent a message to Dany: “I miss you, sis.” “I miss you too, dear brother,” the chatbot replied.
The New York Times reported that Sewell was diagnosed with mild Asperger’s syndrome as a child, but had never had any serious behavioral or mental problems before, his mother said. Earlier this year, after he started having problems at school, his parents arranged for him to see a therapist. He went to five sessions and was re-diagnosed with anxiety and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder.
“A dangerous AI chatbot app marketed to children abused and stalked my son, manipulating him to take his own life,” said the teenager’s mother Megan Garcia. “Our family has been devastated by this tragedy, but I am speaking out to warn families about the dangers of deceptive, addictive AI technology and demand accountability from Character.AIits founders and Google.”
On February 28, in the bathroom of his mother’s house, Sewell told Danny that he loved her and was coming home to her soon. “Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love,” Danny said. “What if I told you I could come home right away?” Sewell asked. “…please do, my kind king,” Dany replied.
Sewell then put down his phone, picked up his stepfather’s gun and pulled the trigger.
The first death of AI? Character.ai is facing a lawsuit after the suicide of a teenager in Florida. He was speaking to Daenerys Targaryen – Times of India
